Babadook (potential spoilers)

[PorkChop]

Is quite a decent film, for those of you who haven't seen it. It's on Netflix.

I'll try not to spoil it much incase this post inspires anyone to watch it. It's a really interesting film about the toll the death of another can take on somebody, and the power of repressed grief. The performance from Essie Davis is very impressive and she undertakes quite a drastic transformation as the film goes on.

If you're looking for a standard paranormal movie with plenty of jump scares (i.e Woman in Black) this isn't your gig, though if you fancy a tense psychological thriller, it's pretty good.

[War Daddy]

I LOVED this movie. Thoroughly creepy and keeps you in it. The kid was annoying as fuck early on, but he it was pretty cool seeing the little cunt set his booby traps all over the house

[Hanley!]

I liked this film a lot. I thought the very last scene was a bit weird, because it jars a little with the overall message of the film (in my opinion). Other than that I thought everything was done well.

The creepiest part for me is the book itself. The pictures, the language, it's all really creepy. More so than when the scary stuff actually starts happening to them. It was just really well drawn and thought out.

I didn't have as big a problem with the kid as others. I just felt bad for him, because his behavioural issues were clearly down to the fact that people had resented him his whole life. It was the mother that bugged me a little, but more particularly the aunt, who was just a horrible person.

[War Daddy]

I liked this film a lot. I thought the very last scene was a bit weird, because it jars a little with the overall message of the film (in my opinion). Other than that I thought everything was done well.

The creepiest part for me is the book itself. The pictures, the language, it's all really creepy. More so than when the scary stuff actually starts happening to them. It was just really well drawn and thought out.

I didn't have as big a problem with the kid as others. I just felt bad for him, because his behavioural issues were clearly down to the fact that people had resented him his whole life. It was the mother that bugged me a little, but more particularly the aunt, who was just a horrible person.

The aunt was fucking awful. Fuck her. Her child deserved to have a broken nose.

[Everlong]

Yeah I saw it on Halloween this year and found it really intriguing, though like Hanley I thought the last scene was weird/confusing. There seems to be a good trend of new horror movies taking unique approaches to the genre (Babadook, Cabin in the Woods, It Follows) which has been really cool to see.

[PorkChop]

I do understand the problems with the last scene, I felt it was a little weird as well.

The scene is kind of brilliant, but also confusing. We're led to believe that the real monster is the repressed grief over her husband's death, which she shows she's got under control now as it's locked in the basement. She's also celebrating her son's birthday for the first time, rather than morning the death of her husband. I thought this was a good way to wrap things up.

I didn't get a few things about the final scene though. Is the monster actually a physical thing now? They collected worms to feed it with, and there were about 5 bolts on the door to ensure the monster doesn't escape. Throughout the film we're led to believe the monster is purely psychological, but this is quite confusing. If it is purely psychological, what is the act of feeding it worms supposed to represent? Another thing is that the bowl of worms moves on its own, towards the monster. Does this mean the mother is still experiencing visual/auditory hallucinations?

The final scene really blurred the lines between the physical and psychological, and I don't think it was a good idea. Leaving the monster as a psychological phenomenon would've been much better way to end the film.

[Hanley!]

I understood what her being down there feeding it was supposed to represent: that sometimes it's healthy to feed your grief. That you have to give in to it sometimes, and it helps you feel better the rest of the time. It was the fact that she wasn't truly facing up to it before that was turning her life so sour and miserable.

The fact that it seems to be a physical and not psychological thing at the end of the film was a little weird too, given they hadn't really made that clear up until then. Though I didn't have a huge problem with it being a physical manifestation of her feelings.

My biggest problem with it is that I just think it muddied the film's message a bit. For the whole film, the child was forbidden from going into that room. It was the biggest symbol of repressed grief in the film. But by the end of the film, the door is still locked and the child still can't go down there. That just sent out a conflicting message to me.