The Bababdook: More Than Just A Pop-Up Book

Tweet

If you are into darker folklore then I can almost guarantee that you will fall in love with The Babadook. It falls into the same theme as Krampus (as the opposite of Santa) and the true tooth fairy ala Darkness Falls. The overall feel of the movie is gritty, like it's going to start raining any minute but that works well for the background. Sometimes less is more; not seeing the monster until you are about twenty minutes into the movie builds up the anticipation. Several people said that this was the scariest movie of the year (2014); I have to disagree with that. The ending leaves you with a few questions about the Babadook and who, specifically, he is / was. There are only a handful of characters in the movie and its not hard to follow but again, I have to warn you that the ending is more than a little strange. It's hard to compare this to other horror / shock / dark films because there are so many original parts to it (trust me on that, swallowing an evil spirit isn't all that its cracked up to be). When I was researching the genesis of the Moroi I came across a few references to the Babadook (Baabaa Dook) but they portrayed it as a displaced spirit that has to find another place for its eternal slumber or possess a human. While the second definition does come close to the happenings of the movie, there are a lot of other things added to it. You can purchase the pop-up book that is featured in the movie for about twenty dollars however there are a LOT of fake / photocopied versions at online auction sites. Photo Credit: Christine Walsh