ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - November 28th
"THE BABADOOK" released in 2014
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Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) is a troubled and exhausted widow who has brought up her six-year-old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) alone after her husband Oskar's death from a car accident that occurred as he drove Amelia to the hospital during her labour. Soon, Sam begins displaying erratic behaviour: he becomes an insomniac and is preoccupied with an imaginary monster, against which he has built weapons to fight. One night, Sam asks his mother to read a pop-up storybook: Mister Babadook. It describes the titular monster, the Babadook, a tall pale-faced humanoid in a top hat with pointed fingers who torments its victims after they become aware of its existence. Amelia is disturbed by the book and its mysterious appearance, while Sam becomes convinced that the Babadook is real. Sam's persistence within the Babadook leads Amelia to often have sleepless nights as she tries to comfort him.
Soon after, strange events occur: doors open and close mysteriously by themselves, strange sounds are heard and Amelia finds glass shards in her food. She attributes the events to Sam's behaviour, but he blames the Babadook. Amelia rips up the book and disposes of it. Following a disatrous children's birthday party, Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book reassembled on the front door step. New words taunt her by saying that the Babadook will become stronger if she continues to deny its existence, containing pop-ups of her killing her dog Bugsy, Samuel and then herself. Terrified, Amelia burns the book and runs to the police after a disturbing phone call. However, Amelia has no proof of the stalking, and when she then sees the Babadook's suit hung up behind the front desk, she leaves. Amelia starts to become more isolated and shut-in, being more impatient, shouting at Samuel for 'disobeying' her constantly, and having frequent visions of the Babadook once again.
One night, Amelia sees a vision of Oskar, who agrees to return if she gives him Sam. Fleeing, Amelia is stalked by the Babadook through the house until it takes over her and finally possesses her, breaking the dog Bugsy's neck. Terrified, Sam must now confront the beast that has taken over his mother and trap the Babadook once and for all.
Soon after, strange events occur: doors open and close mysteriously by themselves, strange sounds are heard and Amelia finds glass shards in her food. She attributes the events to Sam's behaviour, but he blames the Babadook. Amelia rips up the book and disposes of it. Following a disatrous children's birthday party, Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book reassembled on the front door step. New words taunt her by saying that the Babadook will become stronger if she continues to deny its existence, containing pop-ups of her killing her dog Bugsy, Samuel and then herself. Terrified, Amelia burns the book and runs to the police after a disturbing phone call. However, Amelia has no proof of the stalking, and when she then sees the Babadook's suit hung up behind the front desk, she leaves. Amelia starts to become more isolated and shut-in, being more impatient, shouting at Samuel for 'disobeying' her constantly, and having frequent visions of the Babadook once again.
One night, Amelia sees a vision of Oskar, who agrees to return if she gives him Sam. Fleeing, Amelia is stalked by the Babadook through the house until it takes over her and finally possesses her, breaking the dog Bugsy's neck. Terrified, Sam must now confront the beast that has taken over his mother and trap the Babadook once and for all.
Amelia: [about the Babadook] Well, I'm not scared.
Samuel: You will be when it eats your insides!
Top: Amelia (Essie Davis) looks for the "monster" under her son Samuel's (Noah Wiseman) bed;
Above: A terrifying page from the Mister Babadook book
When asked where the idea of The Babadook came from, writer/director Jennifer Kent said, "I have a friend who's a single mother, whose son was traumatized by this monster figure that he thought he saw everywhere in the house. So I thought, "What if this thing was real, on some level?' So I made Monster [a short film] about that idea. But I couldn't leave it alone. I kept coming back to it. And that led to The Babadook.". Kent would later refer to Monster as the "baby babadook".
Kent began writing the script in 2009, and completed five drafts of the screenplay before seeking financing. Although the process was challenging and she was forced to reduce their total budget, Causeway Films producer Kristina Ceyton managed to secure funding of around A$2.5 million from government bodies Screen Australia and the SAFC; however, they still required an additional budget for the construction of the film sets. To attain the funds for the sets, Kent and Ceyton launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in June 2012, with a target of US$30,000. Their funding goal was reached on 27 September 2012 through pledges from 259 backers raising $30,071.
Kent began writing the script in 2009, and completed five drafts of the screenplay before seeking financing. Although the process was challenging and she was forced to reduce their total budget, Causeway Films producer Kristina Ceyton managed to secure funding of around A$2.5 million from government bodies Screen Australia and the SAFC; however, they still required an additional budget for the construction of the film sets. To attain the funds for the sets, Kent and Ceyton launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in June 2012, with a target of US$30,000. Their funding goal was reached on 27 September 2012 through pledges from 259 backers raising $30,071.
Above: The Babadook (Tim Purcell) attacks Amelia!
Kent would later approach actress Essie Davis to play the lead role of Amelia Vanek. Having met Davis while they studied together at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Kent sought to gather her own "family of collaborators to work with for the long term.", having been inspired by her experience on the set of Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's Dogville (Trier himself invited Kent to assist on the set after Kent sent him a written proposal to learn from him). Noah Wiseman was also cast as Amelia's son Samuel, an experience Kent descibed as "stressful" and was extremely sensitive about introducing the themes of the film to the child actor. During the three weeks of pre-production, she carefully gave him a child-friendly version of what the story was about. Wiseman's mother was on set throughout filming, and Wiseman himself was never actually present on set during scenes in which Davis' character abuses her son; Davis instead delivered the lines to an adult actor who stood on his knees. Kent is quoted as saying "I didn't want to destroy a childhood to make this film... that wouldn't be fair."
The film was primarily shot in Adelaide, South Australia, with most of the interior shots filmed on a soundstage in the Australian city — as the funding was from the South Australian state government, this was a requirement that Kent needed to meet. However, to contribute to the universality of the film's appearance, a Victorian terrace-style house was specifically built for the film, as there are very few houses designed in such a style in Adelaide. Kent originally wanted to film solely in black-and-white, as she wanted to create a "heightened feel" that is still believable. She was also influenced by pre-1950s B-grade horror films, as it was "very theatrical", in addition to being "visually beautiful and terrifying". Kent later lost interest in the black-and-white idea and worked closely with production designer Alex Holmes and Radek to create a "very cool", "very claustrophobic" interior environment with "meticulously designed" sets.
In terms of the Babadook monster and the scary effects of the film, Kent was adamant from the outset of production that a low-fi and handmade approach would be used. According to Kent, the Babadook was designed based on stills from the lost film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney, with the director using "lo-fi" stop-motion effects for the monster (with a large amount of smoothening being completed in post-production).
The film was primarily shot in Adelaide, South Australia, with most of the interior shots filmed on a soundstage in the Australian city — as the funding was from the South Australian state government, this was a requirement that Kent needed to meet. However, to contribute to the universality of the film's appearance, a Victorian terrace-style house was specifically built for the film, as there are very few houses designed in such a style in Adelaide. Kent originally wanted to film solely in black-and-white, as she wanted to create a "heightened feel" that is still believable. She was also influenced by pre-1950s B-grade horror films, as it was "very theatrical", in addition to being "visually beautiful and terrifying". Kent later lost interest in the black-and-white idea and worked closely with production designer Alex Holmes and Radek to create a "very cool", "very claustrophobic" interior environment with "meticulously designed" sets.
In terms of the Babadook monster and the scary effects of the film, Kent was adamant from the outset of production that a low-fi and handmade approach would be used. According to Kent, the Babadook was designed based on stills from the lost film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney, with the director using "lo-fi" stop-motion effects for the monster (with a large amount of smoothening being completed in post-production).
TRIVIA: William Friedkin (director of The Exorcist (1973)) said on Twitter, "I've never seen a more terrifying film than 'The Babadook'".
Top: On the set of The Babadook;
Above: Star Essie Davis with writer/director Jennifer Kent
The Babadook had it's world premiere in January 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival, before having a limited theatrical release in Australia (May, 2014), Singapore (25 September 2014), the United Kingdom (17 October 2014) and finally in the United States (on 28 November 2014). In North America, The Babadook opened on a limited release basis in three theaters and grossed US$30,007, although by February had grossed almost $1 million at the box office. To date, the film has grossed nearly $7 million, a considerable success compared the $2 million budget.
The Babadook also received critical acclaim, chiefly for its acting (particularly that of Davis and Wiseman), Kent's screenplay and direction, atmosphere, intensity, and story. Dan Schindel from Movie Mezzanine said that "The Babadook is the best genre creature creation since the big black wolf-dog aliens from Attack the Block." After seeing the film at the 2014 Stanley Film Festival, Flay Otters wrote on the HorrorMovies.ca fan site: "This is a film that mixes strong-minded storytelling with a clear dedication to craft ... It is mature and patient and it is, without a doubt, one of the best horror films this year."
When pressed if a sequel is being planned, Kent (who holds the rights to the film) said, "I will never allow any sequel to be made, because it's not that kind of film. I don't care how much I'm offered, it's just not going to happen." In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book featured in her film The Babadook would be published in 2015. The book was written by Kent in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in her film. The first 2000 copies were numbered and signed by the director and contained pop-up pictures as well as additional pages not seen in the movie. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.
The Babadook also received critical acclaim, chiefly for its acting (particularly that of Davis and Wiseman), Kent's screenplay and direction, atmosphere, intensity, and story. Dan Schindel from Movie Mezzanine said that "The Babadook is the best genre creature creation since the big black wolf-dog aliens from Attack the Block." After seeing the film at the 2014 Stanley Film Festival, Flay Otters wrote on the HorrorMovies.ca fan site: "This is a film that mixes strong-minded storytelling with a clear dedication to craft ... It is mature and patient and it is, without a doubt, one of the best horror films this year."
When pressed if a sequel is being planned, Kent (who holds the rights to the film) said, "I will never allow any sequel to be made, because it's not that kind of film. I don't care how much I'm offered, it's just not going to happen." In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book featured in her film The Babadook would be published in 2015. The book was written by Kent in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in her film. The first 2000 copies were numbered and signed by the director and contained pop-up pictures as well as additional pages not seen in the movie. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 98%
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