# Let's talk about The Babadook **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214 "2014-12-26T15:47:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/21 "2017-03-17T00:57:34Z")
It wasn’ bad. But I don’t need to see it again. It was a while ago, but I think I remember guessing the…twist? fairly early…my guess was… The “monster” is the mom on her period. I don’t remember if that was the case or not now though, and I’m not gonna rewatch it. ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/22 "2017-03-17T11:37:43Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > It wasn’ bad. But I don’t need to see it again. It was a while ago, but I think I remember guessing the…twist? fairly early…my guess was… > > The “monster” is the mom on her period. > > I don’t remember if that was the case or not now though, and I’m not gonna rewatch it. Blimey, did you watch the same film!? Didn’t get that at all. The monster was her grief and anger over losing her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/23 "2018-07-10T21:57:33Z")
Zombie bump here. I just finished watching this movie, and good god, if you wanted to design a movie to freak my shit right out, this would be it. I watched it now because my wife & kids are out of town, so I’m loading up on all the movies my wife doesn’t want to watch, and horror movies with kids in danger is at the top of her NopeNopeNope list. Before I was a parent, I coulda watched this no problem. Now? For the first time in a quarter century, I had to stop a movie halfway through to take a break. I did not expect the ending: I was fully convinced it would end with everyone dead but thought they stuck the actual landing. This, however: > [@snfaulkner](#): > > It wasn’ bad. But I don’t need to see it again. It was a while ago, but I think I remember guessing the…twist? fairly early…my guess was… > > The “monster” is the mom on her period. has got to be the silliest movie analysis I’ve ever read in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/24 "2018-07-11T00:12:33Z")
Good bump, I’ve been meaning to rewatch this. One thing that did occur to me later is that… in “real life” (outside her imagination) her kid might not be nearly as annoying as he seems…it’s just every little thing is magnified by her own mental issues ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/25 "2018-07-11T13:00:59Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I thought it was OK, but not great. > > Is it fair to say the Babadook represents her repressed grief over the death of her husband? She won’t allow anyone to say his name and has never celebrated the kid’s birthday on the day. By the end, she celebrates on his birthday and they have control over the beast. Grief, like the Babadook, never really goes away. But as she points out, it does become quieter, less intrusive, and easier to manage. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/26 "2018-07-11T14:52:42Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I’ve seen it, and it seemed very well done. > > I have to caveat that it is hard for me to judge horror movies because as near as I can tell it is no longer possible for a movie to scare me at all. When I recovered from the terror of seeing Poltergeist when I was 6 that seems to have hardened my soul in some way. > > It did go in a direction that seemed original (neatly switching back on the expectation of who we are to fear) and the conclusion is satisfyingly psychological. > > So without knowing for sure if it is actually scary, I do recommend it. You probably won’t see this - but I also saw Poltergeist around that age and it scared the bejeesus out of me. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/27 "2018-07-11T21:19:50Z")
> [@Mavic\_Chen](#): > > Blimey, did you watch the same film!? Didn’t get that at all. The monster was her grief and anger over losing her husband. Ehhhhh… My read is that it’s a strain of mental illness that runs in the family…which is why the son is told that someday the Babadook will be his responsibility to deal with. It may manifest or be triggered by the grief but the son isn’t going to experience that the same so that monster wouldn’t necessarily be his to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/28 "2018-07-11T21:51:30Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Ehhhhh… My read is that it’s a strain of mental illness that runs in the family…which is why the son is told that someday the Babadook will be his responsibility to deal with. > It may manifest or be triggered by the grief but the son isn’t going to experience that the same so that monster wouldn’t necessarily be his to deal with. There’s another thing I haven’t seen discussed: the kid’s magic trick on his seventh birthday. Making a coin appear? I believe it. Making a dove appear? For any normal kid, I’d think he was a prodigy of stage magic. For this kid, though? I’m thinking it may explain something: kid’s a fuckin wizard. Through that lens–this kid has serious innate magical talent–the movie makes some sense. He’s sick with dread and insecurity over his mother’s grief and distance, and his own weirdness and consequent isolation. The children’s book manifests as the story of his insecurity–and when his mother doesn’t take him seriously then, he ends up unconsciously escalating things, manifesting both the monster and even maybe some of his own mother’s behavior. Or maybe not. Maybe the mother’s lack of sleep and suppressed grief and resentment are responsible for nearly everything she does, except for her creepy glidy-movement as she moves in for the kill. The kid might imagine her moving that way, and create that movement. In the end, he wants to be protected–and so when he sees his mother protecting him, that’s when he stops the monster’s terror, and makes it as small as he perceives his mother’s grief, and turns his talents to making coins and doves appear. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214/29 "2018-07-12T03:32:18Z")
I enjoyed it, but I think if you’re coming to it having heard a lot of hype you’re likely to be disappointed. The first act is brilliant and builds the tension well. The book’s wonderful. Then the second and third acts it goes in an unexpected direction (trying not to give anything away), and while that’s great at first, it’s not enough to sustain half the movie IMO, so I did get a bit bored by the end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-the-babadook/708214.md?page=1)