The Babadook is a 2014 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her feature directorial debut, based on her 2005 short film Monster. Starring Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear, the film follows a widowed single mother who, with her son, must confront a mysterious humanoid monster in their home.
Kent began writing the screenplay in 2009, intending to explore parenting, grief, and the fear of madness. Financing was secured through Australian government grants and partly through crowdfunding. Filming took place in Adelaide, where Kent drew from her experiences as a production assistant on Lars von Trier's Dogville (2003). During filming, the production team worked to ensure six-year-old Wiseman was protected from the film's disturbing subject matter.
The Babadook premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 17 January 2014 and was given a limited release in Australian cinemas on 22 May 2014, initially failing to become a commercial success in its native country. However, it generated wider attention internationally, grossing $10 million against its $2 million budget. The film was praised for the cast's performances, creature design, premise, and themes. At the 4th AACTA Awards, it won for Best Film, and Kent won for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay, respectively. In the years since its release, The Babadook has become a cult classic.
Plot Amelia Vanek is a troubled, exhausted widow and single mother of six-year-old Sam living in Adelaide. Her husband, Oskar, was killed in a car accident while driving her to the hospital during labour. Sam begins displaying erratic behaviour, causing problems at school and in their social life, and becomes preoccupied with an imaginary monster, which he has built weapons to fight. One night, he asks his mother to read a pop-up fairy tale book, titled Mister Babadook. It describes a monster with a top hat wearing a suit, which grows more sinister and menacing with each page turned. Amelia is disturbed by the book and its mysterious appearance, while Sam grows frightened and paranoid, convinced that the Babadook is real.
Strange events begin to occur, such as Amelia finding glass shards in her food. She attributes the events to Sam, but he blames the Babadook. Amelia subsequently rips up the book and disposes of it. At her birthday party, Sam's cousin, Ruby, bullies him, and he pushes her out of her tree house, inadvertently breaking her nose. Amelia's sister and Ruby's mother, Claire, is furious at her nephew for what he did to her. Claire admonishes her sister, stating that even Amelia resents her son for his behavior. On the ride home, Sam has a vision of the Babadook and suffers a violent seizure, after which Amelia brings him to therapy and receives sedatives for him.
Amelia finds the Mister Babadook book reassembled at their front door. New words in it taunt her; the book now contains pop-ups of her killing their dog Bugsy, Sam, then herself. Terrified, she burns the book and runs to the police station after a disturbing phone call. However, she has no proof, and leaves when she sees what looks like the Babadook's suit hung up behind the front desk.
That night, the Babadook attacks her. After the attack, Amelia becomes more isolated and impatient, angrily shouting at Samuel and having more visions of the Babadook. She also exhibits violent behaviour, including cutting the phone line with a knife, and has disturbing hallucinations in which she sees herself murdering Sam.
An apparition of Oskar appears, offering to return if she "brings the boy" to him. Realising he is a creation of the Babadook, she flees, but the Babadook finally possesses her. Under its influence, she kills Bugsy and attempts to kill Sam. Eventually luring her into the basement, Sam knocks her out with his contraptions. Amelia awakens and tries to strangle Sam. When he lovingly caresses her face, she regurgitates a black substance, which seemingly expels the Babadook. However, Sam reminds her that "you can't get rid of the Babadook", and an unseen force drags him into her bedroom. She saves him but is forced to see a vision of her husband's death. Furious, she confronts the Babadook, making it retreat into the basement, locking the door in the process.
Amelia and Sam manage to recover. She is attentive and caring toward him, encouraging him to build his weapons and being impressed by his magic tricks. In the garden, they gather worms in a bowl, which Amelia takes to the basement. The Babadook tries to attack her, but she soothes it and it retreats to the corner, taking the bowl of worms with it. She returns to the yard to celebrate Sam's birthday.
Cast
Production Development
Jennifer Kent attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), where she studied acting alongside Essie Davis and graduated in 1991. She then worked primarily as an actor in the film industry for over two decades. She eventually lost her passion for acting by the end of the 1990s and sent a written proposal to Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, asking if she could assist on the film set of his 2003 drama film Dogville to learn from him. He accepted her proposal, and she considers the experience her "film school", citing the importance of stubbornness as the key lesson she learned.
Prior to The Babadook, Kent completed a short film Monster and an episode of the television series Two Twisted. She explained in May 2014 that the origins of The Babadook could be found in Monster, which she calls "baby Babadook".
She began writing the screenplay in around 2009. She said she sought to tell a story about facing up to the darkness within ourselves, the "fear of going mad", and an exploration of parenting from a "real perspective". Regarding parenting, she further explained in October 2014: "Now, I'm not saying we all want to go and kill our kids, but a lot of women struggle. And it is a very taboo subject, to say that motherhood is anything but a perfect experience for women." About the characters, she said: "It was really important for me that they were loving, and loveable people. I don't mean likeable—I mean that we really felt for them". The term babadook is an invention of Kent's. It is improvised from "", the Serbo-Croatian word for the boogeyman. She completed five drafts of the script.
Kent drew from her experience on the set of Dogville for the assembling of her production team, as she observed that von Trier was surrounded by a well-known "family of people". Kent sought her own "family of collaborators to work with for the long term." Unable to find all of the suitable people within the Australian film industry, Kent hired Polish director of photography (DOP) Radek Ladczuk, for whom The Babadook was his first-ever English language film, and American illustrator Alexander Juhasz. In terms of influences, Kent cited 1960s, '70s and '80s horror—including Eyes Without a Face (1960), Carnival of Souls (1962), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), The Thing (1982) and The Shining (1980)—as well as Vampyr (1932), Nosferatu (1922) and Let the Right One In (2008).
Although the process was challenging and she was forced to reduce their total budget, 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 Causeway Films producer Kristina 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 said that the crowdfunding closed a crucial gap in which to cover design and special effects expenses to build a "special visual world".
Casting the child lead for the film involved casting director Nikki Barrett viewing around 500 audition tapes of young boys, before selecting smaller groups and individuals for in-person improvisation. Six-year old Noah Wiseman was selected as a standout, with Kent saying he had a certain innocence about him that older boys did not have, possibly as he is the son of a child psychologist.
Filming Filming began in September 2012. It was primarily shot in Adelaide, South Australia, with most of the interior shots filmed on a sound stage in the city; as funding was from the South Australian state government, this was a requirement that Kent needed to meet. However, Kent explained to Den of Geek that she is not patriotic and did not want the film to be "particularly Australian".
Kent claimed in an interview that 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. However exterior shots were of an existing terraced house in North Adelaide. A script reading was not done since Noah Wiseman was only six years old at the time, and Kent focused instead on bonding, playing games and lots of time spent with the actors so they could become more familiar with one another. Pre-production occurred in Adelaide and lasted three weeks and, during this time, Kent conveyed a "kiddie" version of the narrative to Wiseman, in which young Samuel is the hero. Kent took Wiseman to Adelaide Zoo to explain the story, and said Wiseman was aware it was a scary film and that he "knew how important his role was".
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 they were "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. The film's final colour scheme was achieved without the use of gels on the camera lenses or any alterations during the post-filming stage. Kent cited David Lynch and Roman Polanski as key influences during the filming stage.
Kent described the filming process as "stressful" because of Wiseman's age. She explained, "So I really had to be focused. We needed double the time we had." Wiseman's mother was on set and a "very protective, loving environment" was created. Kent explained after the release of the film that Wiseman was protected throughout the entire project: "During the reverse shots where Amelia was abusing Sam verbally, we had Essie [Davis] yell at an adult stand-in on his knees. I didn't want to destroy a childhood to make this film—that wouldn't be fair." Kent's friendship with Davis was a boon during filming and Kent praised her former classmate in the media: "To her credit, she's [Davis] very receptive, likes to be directed and is a joy to work with."
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. She cites the influence of Georges Méliès, Jean Epstein's The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) and Häxan (1922). Kent used stop-motion effects for the monster and a large amount of smoothing was completed in post-production. Kent explained to Empire: "There's been some criticism of the lo-fi approach of the effects, and that makes me laugh because it was always intentional. I wanted the film to be all in camera." She has also said that the Man in the Beaver Hat from the lost 1927 film London After Midnight was an inspiration for the design of the Babadook.
Music