|
Did any else get creeped out simply because that one actor was also in Snowtown?
|
# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:30 |
|
|
# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:47 |
|
Drunkboxer posted:Did any else get creeped out simply because that one actor was also in Snowtown? Literally just came in to post this because it only now occurred to me who he was. I guess we should be happy that the movie didn't end with him trying to stuff them both in a barrel
|
# ? Nov 7, 2014 15:37 |
|
Pre-order for the book is out! http://thebabadook.com/ $80 shipped if they get 2k Pre-orders. Booo
|
# ? Nov 20, 2014 17:37 |
|
Harminoff posted:Pre-order for the book is out! Ordered. Knowing that it'll be a fairly exact copy of the book from the movie and that Jennifer Kent's working on it sold me. I really hope this gets funded.
|
# ? Nov 20, 2014 17:42 |
|
For $80 it better actually bring an evil entity into my house.
|
# ? Nov 20, 2014 23:35 |
|
shock.wav posted:And a bonus for me was that it was filmed in Adelaide, South Australia, my home town. Shed a patriotic tear when I saw those trees from the Botanic Gardens in one scene. Overall I thought it was a decent film. Though I think the ending was a little underwhelming plot-wise, you do have to respect a movie that sticks to its metaphorical guns right till the end.
|
# ? Nov 23, 2014 14:17 |
|
Well as of 5 minutes ago they reached the 2000 miniumum for the books. Woo I can't wait!!
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 07:32 |
|
Went into this knowing very little and at points the hairs on my legs were standing on end and my ladyfriend was saying "I really don't like this!!", the mark of a solidly freaky film. Does the linked book feature the latter pages that appear after she torches it? Where Mr Babadook gets real nasty?
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 12:18 |
|
When she snapped at the kid, calling him a little poo poo and whatnot, did the kid laugh? The Babadook always looked like a creepy ghost version of him, so at the time I thought this was a creepy trick.
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 15:40 |
|
This movie was all right, but Jennifer Kent’s true debut, Monster, has more heart, more style, and better acting. http://vimeo.com/39042148 EDIT: Basically, this movie is Where the Wild Things Are from the perspective of the Mother, with all that implies. In the former storybook, the whole point is about getting kids to understand that it’s healthy and natural to have feelings of wrath and hatred towards your parents. In Monster/The Babadook, it’s about how it’s healthy and natural for a mother to have feelings of wrath and hatred towards her child. The point of both is that it is only when one confronts these monsters and ‘puts them in their place’ that reconciliation is possible (symbolized in both by a mother preparing ‘supper’ for the monster that has been ‘sent to his room’). K. Waste fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Dec 2, 2014 |
# ? Dec 2, 2014 17:46 |
|
K. Waste posted:This movie was all right, but Jennifer Kent’s true debut, Monster, has more heart, more style, and better acting.
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 21:20 |
|
Honest Thief posted:It certainly handles the confrontation much better, if anything Babadook was weakened by the more extravagant choices, like the kid having the prowess of a Home Alone kid. Exactly my thoughts. Making Amelia and Samuel much broader character types of a dysfunctional family seems to have given the actors less to work with and consequently less emotional impact. The weakest aspect of the movie is that it becomes a rather on-the-nose parable about confronting trauma, rather than the less extreme, more banal feelings of animosity that can develop between a mother and child. The best part about the movie is that it is really, wickedly funny. The magic trick at the end is the perfect mix of innocence and pure diabolicism. The Babadook is about as good a Sam Raimi/Guillermo del Toro movie not directed or produced by either of them that one could have gotten.
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 22:27 |
|
K. Waste posted:The Babadook is about as good a Sam Raimi/Guillermo del Toro movie not directed or produced by either of them that one could have gotten.
|
# ? Dec 2, 2014 23:00 |
|
Watched it last night with some friends and loved it. The atmosphere is unnerving, it's well shot, and I like how dream-like the whole thing feels. I seem to have felt a little bit differently about the ending than everyone. I still get this weird feeling of dread by the end. The movie ends with the mom and son doing pretty good. Mom's not acting like a lunatic as much, she's affectionate towards her son, and has accepted that he's got just as many issues as her (after she seems to be projecting her own issues on him the whole time). The Babadook is "tamed" and everything's groovy. Or is it? The movie ends with the son's 7th birthday party without any guests. Before the mom was "possessed", the book predicted she would kill the dog and then her son. Once she is possessed and watching TV, there's a news report of a woman that killed her son and herself at his 7th birthday party. This could either be a coincidence, the Babadook messing with her, or a prediction of what we have yet to see (which is what I believe). At the end of the movie, when everything's peachy-keen, the son still has bruises on his neck from being strangled, meaning it's only been a few days. Child Services have just met with them, but they seem to still be in the ruling process of what to do (they see that the son's kinda weird, but mom seems to be oddly calm and distant, going with the flow). She tells them she found a school for him, but there hasn't been enough time to get him enrolled. Nothing has really changed other than she admits she has her demons. Her son is still out of school (staying with an old woman who, despite her kind intentions, is oblivious), and neither of them have sought any professional help. After killing a dog, drugging your son, neglecting his basic needs (she didn't even feed him!) and emotionally/abusing him for much longer than any boogeyman has been introduced, you aren't going to just fix everything by saying "I have problems". Also, there's a very weird moment where the mom's about to go feed the Babadook the worms. Her son is jumping around, excited, and asks "Can I see it this time?" and she softly tells him no. Very odd exchange. When she feeds the Babadook the worms, she's scared at first, but she stands her ground (literally bends over without moving her feet), then straightens up, and stares, fascinated. Is this her accepting her demons, or is it a precursor to more mayhem? I may be reading too much into a movie that already has dream-like logic, but the ending has sinister undertones (as many good horror movies have). In a movie where the monster's actual existence is questionable, and the characters we're rooting for are just as scary, I think it's a great ending. Also, I loved the scenes with the television, very bizarre imagery. The hole in the wall, the Evil Dead POV shot in the climax, the opening shots, all fantastic. My only complaint, and I was warned about it by my friends, is the goofy Pterodactyl sound effect used for some of the growls. There's a discussion to be had about the current trend of horror movies with evil within the family as a major theme: The Conjuring, Oculus, You're Next, Dark Skies, Insidious, The Last Exorcism, Mama, We Are What We Are, The Possession, Paranormal Activity series, Sinister, The Purge, etc. It's an interesting subtext that seems to be gaining traction rather than dwindling. Long story short, this is one of my favorite horror movies in years.
|
# ? Dec 3, 2014 16:57 |
|
K. Waste posted:The best part about the movie is that it is really, wickedly funny. The magic trick at the end is the perfect mix of innocence and pure diabolicism. The Babadook is about as good a Sam Raimi/Guillermo del Toro movie not directed or produced by either of them that one could have gotten. A lot of the shot choices reflect that, and the big, clean spaces in the house with dirty corners are very GDT, very scary storybook.
|
# ? Dec 3, 2014 17:02 |
|
Franchescanado posted:Watched it last night with some friends and loved it. The atmosphere is unnerving, it's well shot, and I like how dream-like the whole thing feels. Most of your complaints were addressed, you were probably just too punch-drunk by the climax to give them much notice. Samuel's still scheduled for professional psych care (and seems to have calmed down a lot anyway now that all his monster-hunting crap was finally validated), Amelia tells the social care workers that she's got another school picked out for him, and they're able to live in their house again without much drama, even with the Babadook knocking around downstairs. The Babadook is a manifest representation of Amelia's grief and stress caused by the loss of her husband; like actual grief, it'll never go away, but it can be confronted and brought down to a manageable level instead of allowing it to control your life. Amelia had shut herself off from the rest of the world and turned her basement into a locked-off shrine to Oskar's possessions - note that the Babadook exerts its influence most strongly either in the basement, where Oskar's memory is enshrined, or Amelia's room, where she's reminded every night that she's alone. The Babadook retreats to the basement after Amelia shakes it off, but she still has to regularly confront it, and the memory of her husband, to keep it calm so that it doesn't poison the rest of her life again. Samuel can't "see it" yet because he doesn't understand the emotions it embodies, and possibly also because it won't be able to feed off Amelia's resentment of him anymore once he's finally grown up a little bit and the pain of Oskar's absence isn't so strong. It's not a totally happy ending (cuz you can't get rid of the Babadook), but it's a manageable one. Amelia's life, such as it is, has stabilized, and she and Samuel are at least able to come to an understanding of their mutual loss and need to protect each other, even with the Babadook still crying in the dark.
|
# ? Dec 3, 2014 17:09 |
|
I'm not really complaining about anything (other than the growl), I just didn't think the ending was as cut-and-dried when I watched it. I think my views were more cynical due to the people I've known that suffered grief and depression jump around from happy-go-lucky to reserved to despair. Also, I spent an hour and a half watching this woman lie to everyone around her about her situation and her son, so I'm not apt to believe her a few days after she faced her demons. Also, I hope there isn't a sequel. It works as a stand-alone story.
|
# ? Dec 3, 2014 18:24 |
|
I watched this with my wife and my roommate and though I liked it, they were confused at the end. I mean, I thought the ending was pretty clear, but I think they're too used to the American style of horror movies where either everyone dies at the end or life is lovely for everyone or there is that twist at the last second to show OH NO THE MONSTER IS ACTUALLY RIGHT THERE. All those are incredibly lame. I've never been a big fan of the shock/jump horror. Basically, I feel like modern American horror movies have no depth. People basically think "we have this idea for something scary, I guess we should write a story around it," which is a bad way of writing film. This story works so well for me because it's a deeply emotional story that just happens to be told through a horror framework. This story didn't need to be horror, but that happens to be the framework they used. And for me the film is stronger for that. Hollismason posted:Actually think this is probably one the singlest scary films I've seen in a long time and is pretty much like top notch horror , I will definitely be paying attention to this Director because goddamn this movie was brilliant. When I explained it to my wife and my roommate, they just didn't get the ending, so I explained in my view that The Babadook represents resentment. The mother resents the son for the death of her husband and she resents the son for all that has gone wrong with her life. This spirals out of control, thus the Babadook. In the end, she conquers that resentment, but like the PTSD talk, it's always going to be there. Only by acknowledging it and actively caring for the situation can you live an happy life and move past it.
|
# ? Dec 5, 2014 07:53 |
|
I enjoyed the movie but what stuck with me the most was the footage from the Drop of Water segment from Black Sabbath when the mother was watching TV in one of the scenes. It's probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPF-sfNvOo&t=99s
|
# ? Dec 6, 2014 19:00 |
|
Captain Jesus posted:I enjoyed the movie but what stuck with me the most was the footage from the Drop of Water segment from Black Sabbath when the mother was watching TV in one of the scenes. It's probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. The Segundo de Chomon clip bugged me out more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDMWCdtiMUY They had a great eye for creepy movies.
|
# ? Dec 6, 2014 19:08 |
|
penismightier posted:The Segundo de Chomon clip bugged me out more: Yeah, the integration of Mister Babadook into those silent films is really impressive. According to IMDb, all the silent films used in that fever dream sequence are either de Chomon or Melies, which is appropriate given that Samuel wants to become a magician. de Chomon and Melies were both very similar in that their films use cinema to expand on the tradition of magic and theatrical performance. And what's interesting about a lot of these films is how explicitly they enticed the audience to laugh at and take pleasure in ghosts and diabolical characters taking advantage of foolish innocents. Before the ending twist, Kent is laying the seed of the idea that Mister Babadook is both a devilish and cathartic figure.
|
# ? Dec 6, 2014 19:40 |
|
K. Waste posted:Yeah, the integration of Mister Babadook into those silent films is really impressive. According to IMDb, all the silent films used in that fever dream sequence are either de Chomon or Melies, which is appropriate given that Samuel wants to become a magician. de Chomon and Melies were both very similar in that their films use cinema to expand on the tradition of magic and theatrical performance. And what's interesting about a lot of these films is how explicitly they enticed the audience to laugh at and take pleasure in ghosts and diabolical characters taking advantage of foolish innocents. Before the ending twist, Kent is laying the seed of the idea that Mister Babadook is both a devilish and cathartic figure. Spot on. That's the only Chomon I noticed, all the others like the head juggling and the floating star ladies were Melies.
|
# ? Dec 6, 2014 19:45 |
|
K. Waste posted:Yeah, the integration of Mister Babadook into those silent films is really impressive. According to IMDb, all the silent films used in that fever dream sequence are either de Chomon or Melies, which is appropriate given that Samuel wants to become a magician. de Chomon and Melies were both very similar in that their films use cinema to expand on the tradition of magic and theatrical performance. And what's interesting about a lot of these films is how explicitly they enticed the audience to laugh at and take pleasure in ghosts and diabolical characters taking advantage of foolish innocents. Before the ending twist, Kent is laying the seed of the idea that Mister Babadook is both a devilish and cathartic figure. This was my favorite part of the movie, a nice "did I actually see that" moment.
|
# ? Dec 6, 2014 22:46 |
|
I thought that the ending was great and fit with the rest of the movie. The Babadook was clearly a metaphor for grief+depression, and it's something that never goes away. It gets stronger the more you deny it and refuse to face it, but once you do (the climax scene, when she probably sees the decapitated head of her husband underneath the top hat), then you can move on and have some normalcy. But it still never goes away and you still 'feed' it--but the best you can do is keep it from interfering with your life (keeping it away from her son until he's old enough to deal with it). That's what all of the talk was between the son and mother was for with 'protecting' each other from the Babadook, as they're both grieving (in much different ways) over the death of the father/husband.
|
# ? Dec 7, 2014 01:11 |
|
What was up with the tooth thing? It was foreshadowed during the whole movie but wasn't explained and I didn't pick up any obvious metaphor.
|
# ? Dec 7, 2014 19:05 |
|
Strontosaurus posted:What was up with the tooth thing? It was foreshadowed during the whole movie but wasn't explained and I didn't pick up any obvious metaphor. Tooth damage is a dream image, abcess/bad roots. Pain you can feel in your soul.
|
# ? Dec 7, 2014 19:25 |
|
I found the ending, where she screams The Babadook into submission and pulls Sam back towards her to be this really emotional moment that had me welling up a little. Something about that moment is so beautiful and well, cathartic.
|
# ? Dec 8, 2014 05:35 |
The movie looks lovely and like the only reason the creator was given special accolades out of the 50 billion lovely horror movies that are produced annually was because she metaphorically sucked infamous child molester roman polanski's balls.
|
|
# ? Dec 8, 2014 18:05 |
|
Did you actually see the movie?
|
# ? Dec 8, 2014 18:18 |
|
axleblaze posted:Did you actually see the movie? Is there a reason to acknowledge it at all?
|
# ? Dec 9, 2014 00:37 |
|
I finally got to see it this weekend, and it ended up packing a huge emotional punch that I wasn't expecting. I really loved it, and I can't recommend it enough for people who like psychological / character-study films.
|
# ? Dec 9, 2014 00:40 |
|
I liked it. It wasn't as scary as I'd hoped, and the end veered off into Mama territory, but for the most part it was a great character study in desparation. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this about the children's book aspect: in the first birthday party scene the mom mentions that she was a writer, and that she did work for magazines and was attempting a children's book (or something along those lines). I was wondering if the book was her work that she had repressed?
|
# ? Dec 12, 2014 04:38 |
|
The Babadook and Mama would be a great double feature.
|
# ? Dec 12, 2014 21:35 |
|
Can't say I enjoyed it much. I have a massive issue when the characters are shown what's going to happen in the future yet the characters are clueless. Ie: when she reads the taped-together book. Of course she didn't know what she was reading, but the audience does and so when it actually happens - and continues to fulfil the 'prophecy' the book depicted - I can't help but feel it loses its effectiveness. We knew she'd strangle the dog. We knew she'd strangle her boy. Looking back I would have been content with the movie had she slit her throat and sacrificed herself, at least that'd add strength to the idea that he manifested himself as mental illness. I lost a lot of interest after she killed the dog. And from there it became more and more ridiculous. I presume she overpowered the Babadook using her motherly love... but the build-up to that was far too sudden, if not non-existant, and was pretty poor considering everything up to that point had been loss after loss for her and clearly the game was already over when he launched himself into her body. An effective horror movie, to me, is when the viewer isn't aware of what's happening. The movie was far more effective when the mother was slowly unravelling and we could tell that it was no longer the Babadook doing these things, but the mother herself. She became the danger. Annabelle had me turning on my light at times and gave me a broken sleep. Babadook was a massive disappointment. truther fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Dec 14, 2014 |
# ? Dec 14, 2014 02:14 |
|
I think we might have found this forum's first Annabelle fan.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 02:16 |
|
I'm seriously trying to remember anything remotely scary about Annabelle. Even if you had more than your average aversion to creepy dolls, that was some thin loving gruel indeed.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 04:49 |
|
I didn't think The Babadook was very scary, either, but that's because most horror movies really aren't scary. It's much better to go into them all expecting them to be suspense-comedies, because then you really get the poo poo scared out of you when it does so really well. I haven't seen Annabelle, but it would have to be really freakin' good to be either funnier or scarier than The Babadook.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 05:27 |
|
It is emphatically not.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 07:26 |
|
I am genuinely weirded out by the view of poeple calling the repression and feeding of the mother's baggage, explicitly with the li'l dude's participation, a happy ending for anyone. Grief secreted and fed is a monster, definitely, but it's not a monster defeated, or overcome.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 09:32 |
|
|
# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:47 |
|
The Peccadillo posted:I am genuinely weirded out by the view of poeple calling the repression and feeding of the mother's baggage, explicitly with the li'l dude's participation, a happy ending for anyone. That's exactly the point: you can't ever totally get rid of grief, but you can manage it, stop it from consuming you and move on with your life.
|
# ? Dec 14, 2014 13:00 |