A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Babadook -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

I'm not quite certain what to make of newly minted filmmaker Jennifer Kent's The Babadook.

That it's a quality film is evident.

It seems to concern a grieving young mother who may be going insane;  or

A seven year-old boy, who terrorizes everyone around him, never stops speaking, and hence never allows his mother to sleep, and she begins to break down from lack thereof;

A hand-made pop-up book entitled The Babadook that mysteriously appears in their home, which may somehow unleash a creature from the bowels of somewhere, that either desires to make off with the child or take over the mother (Essie Davis) and possibly have her kill him.

The one thing of which I relatively certain, is that the film is of the sort that makes you want to place your hand in front of your eyes whilst viewing, and thereby be able to only see certain parts through your spread fingers.

The main thrust of the film is, of course, the mysterious Babadook, which may or may not exist.  We only experience it through the eyes of mother and / or son.  Although there are enough sequences that set up such believability.

Is there a Babadook?

Not certain.

But it seems so.

Scream Factory's new Blu-ray is gorgeous.  Imagery is perfect, as the film as been shot on an Alexa, so we have digital to digital to Blu-ray.  Audio is heavy, directed and superb.

I can only give two recommendations after viewing the film.

One.  Do not allow a copy of the book The Babadook into your home.

Two.  Get your hands on a copy of the new Blu-ray, and enjoy.

Preferably in the dark.

Recommended

RAH

Funny. this was doing middling business in OZ but it really took off AFTER it left Oz to do FF circuits and whatnot.

It has many antecedents, like The Innocents I guess. But it seems completely fresh, and sort of guileless, but very nicely developed. The choice of the Alexa for the filming tells you about their care for quality.

I also love the fact the filmmakers got it done on the smell of an oily rag. Big Kudos.

Babadook = A Bad Book

Really looking forward to the Scream Factory release. I imported the Australian BD last year, but for some reason it's in 1080i.


Wonderful film - and wonderful packaging too!

Definitely agree about the comparison to THE INNOCENTS. Both films are open to a variety of interpretations and are all the more intriguing for it.

I wasn't impressed by The Babadook. It was a good quality movie but borrowed too many familiar elements from other flicks like The Shining and the Exorcist and in the end just seemed like a jumbled tribute to the filmmakers favorite horror films.