The Babadook (2014) - November 11, 2014

[Akijama]

Standard Amaray:


JB Hi-Fi Exclusive Digipack:

[lolwut]

Can't wait to see this. Looks scary.

[Scottie]

Count me in for at least a rental as this sounds genuinely creepy.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Akijama

EDIT: It reads " Format: Import Studio: Imports". My bad.

What does that mean? It's being released in some other country on that date?

I can't wait to see this, I've had it on my watchlist for over a year now, since it played at fantastic fest last september to rave reviews. These darn indie movies take SO much longer to be visible from the date of their premiere than the big studio ones. If it was actually being released on video in november I'd buy it straight up.

[Corner Camping Noob]

Aww man i thought this was US release. Can't wait for it to eventually come out though, looks amazing.

[djdirty75]

Got the JB Hi-Fi exclusive this morning.

The digi-pack is excellent (except for the ugly non-removable classification sticker on the front).

As for the movie?

Spine-chilling.

Incredible performances, especially from Daniel Henshall. That little fella is gonna go a long way.

While the ending was a little shaky and the trailer gave away a bit too much, I still enjoyed this immensely.

It deserves all the awards and praise and I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychological horror and Australian cinema.

I'll be grabbing a copy of the US version when it's released too.

[Hek_qwerr]

Originally Posted by djdirty75

Got the JB Hi-Fi exclusive this morning.

The digi-pack is excellent (except for the ugly non-removable classification sticker on the front).

As for the movie?

Spine-chilling.

Incredible performances, especially from Daniel Henshall. That little fella is gonna go a long way.

While the ending was a little shaky and the trailer gave away a bit too much, I still enjoyed this immensely.

It deserves all the awards and praise and I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in psychological horror and Australian cinema.

I'll be grabbing a copy of the US version when it's released too.

[Show spoiler]

i ordered the australian release aswell,im in the US though....hopefully you are right as child stars i rarely ever say that about.look at the kid from sixth sense,everyone swore he was gonna be the biggest actor when he got older...where is he now?

[djgeneral]

I really want to see this!

[TJS_Blu]

from twitter:

Glenn Kenny ‏@Glenn__Kenny 23m23 minutes ago
I think "The Babadook" may be the first genuinely great horror movie of this century. Yeah, THAT good.

[cakefactory]

He doesn't think say, Pan's Labyrinth or Let the Right One In were genuinely great? What does he think was a great horror movie then if this qualifies and nothing else does?! This guy's opinion sucks. I'm sure it's good, and maybe it's THE BEST horror movie, but to say nothing else is great at all in the last 15 years sure is a dismissive comment.

I'm hyped to finally watch it.

[Sinthetic]

Mine should be with me from Australia in the next week or so.

Can't wait.

[HorrorBlu]

I wouldn't overhype it for yourselves. It's a good movie, but definitely not one of the best horror films of the century. It really isn't even that scary, it's mainly driven by the relationship between the mother and son.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

He doesn't think say, Pan's Labyrinth or Let the Right One In were genuinely great?

Lol, it was a tweet, not a dissertation.

Originally Posted by cakefactory

This guy's opinion sucks.

Sure it does.

[ronboster]

Like others mine shipped from Australia on Tuesday. I'm hoping it will arrive next week. I can't wait to see it.

Would love to hear any owners thoughts on PQ and sound quality of the blu ray presentation?

Ron

[djdirty75]

It's pretty solid.

There's a scene at the very beginning where the lead actresses white night gown is set against a black background and it creates a slight grey "bloom" or "halo" effect (not sure of the correct term) around her but that's about all.

Soundtrack is excellent. Raised the hairs on my arms and neck numerous times.

[cakefactory]

Well, that was a monumental disappointment. I think the nearly year of hype about it being terrifying really worked against it. It's being hyped up as some kind of incredibly scary, groundbreaking horror movie, but it's really very average, I'd compare it to something like "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" or "Mama" in that it contains some good ideas and imagery and is competently made but completely unspectacular. I watched it with the sound way up in the dark at night with no distractions and it failed to make me, the most jumpy of jump scare wimps, get scared by ANYTHING other than the first half hour, where it made me scared to ever have a kid cause that kid was so awful that he made Regan look like she'd be a relief in comparison. I guess the couple of parts with the babadook voice were pretty eerie too, but then the rest of the time they just blare this stock dragon sound effect that's been used by videogames since about 1989 every time they show the monster (the dragon noise at 3:47ish in this warcraft 2 effects compilation

[Show spoiler]

WarCraft II - Quotes and sound effects - YouTube

). I think that damn stock sound effect might have been the biggest distraction for me. It's like if they made a horror movie and every time someone screamed they used the Wilhelm scream, or something. Public domain sound effects being used as the monster's primary noise are not good. So yeah, I think the first half hour works against it since then the rest of the movie just sort of reverses the audience sympathies and then it really doesn't go anywhere with it. Blech. I'd definitely recommend a rental on this one.

[ronboster]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Well, that was a monumental disappointment. I think the nearly year of hype about it being terrifying really worked against it. It's being hyped up as some kind of incredibly scary, groundbreaking horror movie, but it's really very average, I'd compare it to something like "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" or "Mama" in that it contains some good ideas and imagery and is competently made but completely unspectacular. I watched it with the sound way up in the dark at night with no distractions and it failed to make me, the most jumpy of jump scare wimps, get scared by ANYTHING other than the first half hour, where it made me scared to ever have a kid cause that kid was so awful that he made Regan look like she'd be a relief in comparison. I guess the couple of parts with the babadook voice were pretty eerie too, but then the rest of the time they just blare this stock dragon sound effect that's been used by videogames since about 1989 every time they show the monster (the dragon noise at 3:47ish in this warcraft 2 effects compilation

[Show spoiler]WarCraft II - Quotes and sound effects - YouTube

). I think that damn stock sound effect might have been the biggest distraction for me. It's like if they made a horror movie and every time someone screamed they used the Wilhelm scream, or something. Public domain sound effects being used as the monster's primary noise are not good. So yeah, I think the first half hour works against it since then the rest of the movie just sort of reverses the audience sympathies and then it really doesn't go anywhere with it. Blech. I'd definitely recommend a rental on this one.

IMHO, horror as a genre is like comedy, opinions can very wildly as to what's funny or what's scary to one, may not be to another. I've read that this film is not typical horror film....some have as it's more psychological horror than jump scare monster horror. As far as critical opinion, there are 43 positive reviews vs 2 negative reviews on rotten tomatoes. I'm looking forward in seeing it in my home theater and experiencing it first hand.

[Todd Tomorrow]

I think this was the most overrated horror film in a while. I wrote about it on the movie thread, so won't again, but while this keeps getting rave reviews, most people I know who saw it found it neither particularly original or scary. I saw it at Frightfest in London where it was one of the most anticipated films of the festival and then almost everybody I talked to afterwards thought it was a bit of a let down.

[Lacrymosa]

Wow that was unexpected and I'm so glad I saw this thread! I pre-ordered it from Amazon.ca since it says Nov 11 (Import - I'm assuming it's this Australian release) and if I order from JB Hi FI it won't be here for a month anyway. This is one of my most anticipated movies this year so I can't wait to see it, but will try to keep expectations in check!

Never mind...I order from JB Hi Fi - I want the digipack and I just don't trust Amazon to get it in for that date, I have 5 Imports with Amazon.ca that are still not in stock after pre-ordering, 4 of them 2 weeks later, and 1 of them almost a month now. Even if they do end up getting it, that digipack looks cool. Just wish shipping from Australia to Canada wasn't so long!

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by ronboster

IMHO, horror as a genre is like comedy, opinions can very wildly as to what's funny or what's scary to one, may not be to another. I've read that this film is not typical horror film....some have as it's more psychological horror than jump scare monster horror. As far as critical opinion, there are 43 positive reviews vs 2 negative reviews on rotten tomatoes. I'm looking forward in seeing it in my home theater and experiencing it first hand.

Yeah, I don't really get it, pretty much every critic whose opinion I trust, even the ones that are really big horror buffs that are quick to identify stuff that's dumbed down for the mainstream or whatever (ex Mark Kermode), absolutely loved it. It just left me cold. It's not even that it wasn't scary, I love a ton of horror movies that don't scare me in any way because I think they're good movies, but this one didn't work on any level for me. I guess the fact it had been repeatedly hyped as being so terrifying definitely made me think it was supposed to be one of those jump kind of haunting movies, which it assuredly wasn't, so maybe going into it knowing more what to expect would warm me to it. The critical response from people I trust is SO unanimously positive that I'm tempted to end up buying it anyway and watch it till I like it cause obviously I'm missing something here.

The main difference I was noting from my opinion vs everyone else's was that I absolutely HATED the main kid through that first 45 minutes and wanted him to get eaten by the babadook ASAP. He was so ungodly annoying and violent and I just felt awful for his poor mother.

I did appreciate some things a lot, like how cine-literate the director was (I loved the lengthy cameo by the drop of water segment of Black Sabbath!). She also made the very appreciated decision to not do that bullcrap that modern horror movies love to do where they smash the loudest note possible on the soundtrack every time something scary happens, so you're jolted because you're actually in physical pain from the ear piercing jump scares (ex Sinister). But yeah, I was really disappointed. I'll probably give it another chance and hopefully turn around on it.

One thing about the Babadook that made me laugh out loud was when listening to the BBC podcast about it, some listener had written in saying he thought it wasn't scary and that Annabelle was a much better, scarier movie, and Mark Kermode got so mad he just ripped their letter in half and said something like "all opinions are valid, except that particular one."