For me, it felt less like a horror movie and more like a really intense Lifetime movie. Not scary, just kind of ‘meh’.
As a horror fan, I love slasher flicks and boobs as much as the next guy. It means I don’t really have to think much, just enjoy the gorefest. However, I loved the Babadook. To me it was what original horror films were about. It made you uncomfortable and unsafe. There is absolutely nothing wrong with horror movies that make you think.
The Babadook was a great film. A lot of people didn’t like it because they think horror is all about blood and gore, and the film was psychologically scary. Many horror fans loved it, but just as many hated it, didn’t appreciate it for what it was, or relate to the family situation. That’s why they attack the film, and say that it sucks.
Well I would just like to say this….I watched it once and had to watch it again! Cause not many horror films make ya think! Yea it was t traditional and I applaud that!
I think “The Babadook” is a welcome return to the Val Lewton school of horror — an emphasis on subtlety, psychological complexity and imagery that creeps you out on a much deeper longer-lasting level than mere visceral gross-out.
http://www.theblood-shed.com/straight-outta-the-mourge-a-look-back-at-friday-the-13th-the-final-chapter/- I think you mean throw, not through.
To understand why anyone hates a horror movie, we must understand what a horror movie is, and why people watch it. I often run the analogy that horror movies are like porn, and when it comes to porn, everyone has their own thing. When someone takes “your thing” and does a twist with it and does something you do not like at all, then you ruin “your thing”. It damages that one setup that you go back to over and over, and it always triggers your fear gland. My favorite type of horror movies is scary house films, with proper film camera usage, and the agitator being some “evil” spirit that is explained as such. With this in mind, I hate housebound. The spirit turned out to be good, it was a scoobydo’esk twist, and the characters were not “innocents” that I felt were undeserving of the horrors they encountered. This twist on my favorite horror trope made me hate the movie. I had the same problem with Babadook. Characters are unlikeable; the kid is a brat, and the mother is no better. Some people say that this is “real” but if I can suspend my belief of evil spirits, I can also suspend my belief of a perfect family. The end also shows them winning over the evil spirit and enslaving it. This grinds me the wrong way; I like my endings to be escapes, and the evil remaining unconquerable. (I guess that is the Lovecrafting in me.) So I guess what I am saying is that I like what I like, and I do not like it when you mess with what I like. Don’t harass people for what horror they like, any more than you should complain about what porn people like. You cannot change it, we are frightened by what we are frightened by, if you present something as “it” and its not it, people will be frustrated.
I really loved what you said here, and as someone who LOVES horror but can’t stand torture or gore…it sometimes makes this genre super hard for me to stand. My favorite type of horror are the ones that are well thought out, has an actual plot and storyline and has a line of thought that can be followed or at least at some point be understood. I think everyone has a right to dislike or like what they want, but I do agree a lot of horror movies are just stupid now and have no real point but to shock!
Thanks you for your kind words Shawna. While I do enjoy gore movies, I also have always been a fan of more intelligent horror films as well. I’m glad you say everyone is entitiled to their own opinion. That’s the main point I tried to get across in this article
I feel the hype, being the blogs and the like saying this movie is the scariest movie of the year is what caused some people to dislike it. I didn’t really care for it at first because of this. I was honestly expecting it to keep me up at night, it did not. If you can take away the expectations and enjoy it for what it was then it can be enjoyable. There are so many different kind of horrors that to label a movie as “horror” and then try to compare a “slasher” horror film to a “suspense” horror really isn’t fair.
the babadook was an amazing film. from the claustrophobic cinematography, the creepy music, the great acting on the part of mom, the aspect of insanity. there are too many gem qualities to list. the movie felt like a story straight from H. P. Lovecraft, the unequivocal master of horror. that being said, I don’t think I could watch it more than once.
This and IT FOLLOWS were the two biggest wastes of time of last Halloweens viewing. Both made no sense at all; even after the credits rolled. When you are so clever I have to go to Wikipedia and forums to tell me what was really going on, thats a failure. Both needed someone to stand for a second and speak allowed (for it follows) “this is the ancient demon HEXAGEX. Its a myan demon that was cursed after as a human he fell in love with the myan queen and was put to death because it was outside of wedlock. Now to save yourself you have to pass fwd the sex as has been done since ancient times to prevent him from killing you” or SOME origin otherwise its just no rules, no weaknesses, no limits to powers and no history (see: JEPPERS CREEPERS). BADADOOK suffers from what they did at the end of PSYCHO – you need someone to come out and describe the psychological manifestation that was going on, how it occurs, and what defeated it and how its being dealt with. Otherwise – credits roll – What the hell was that bs? real or not real? Explain please
If you’re the kind of person who needs that kind of explicit exposition, then The Babadook is definitely not going to be your cup of tea. Not sure what you mean about Psycho, though. That movie makes it pretty clear that Norman Bates has some mommy issues, what with the mummified corpse & all. If psychological horror is not for you (the uncertainty is a necessary component, as it helps create feelings of dread & anxiety), maybe pick a genre that spells it all out for you.
I have always thought that a lot of people who don’t like “The Babadook”, are just expressing the nameless fear that it creates in the watcher. It’s new and real and scary – those are hard feelings for a lot of us to express, let alone acknowledge. “It sucks!!!” Is easier.
I found The Babadook to be an intense thought provoking thriller. It not only had the aspects of a slow burn thriller but the the jumps and scares that made you wonder if just watching it invited baddies to creep p behind you in the dark. My friend Drew came over to watch it with me. He is a film student and a horror buff and he hated it. He felt it tried too hard to deliver tension and equally felt that it it failed to deliver. In short I loved it and Drew hated it. Just what you pointed out here. When my site is back up you can see my full review from Christmas 2015. Sites down now due to hackers. Will be back after the 11th.
I can’t and won’t say that I hate the movie. I did like it a lot but I will say for something dark, it scared the shit out of me. I do want to watch it again but I think I will wait till I’m not about to go to bed.
I did not like it at all. Personally I felt the acting was over-the-top and the story dry. It was apparent to me immediately how the story was going to go and what “The Babadook” represented. I liked how it showed humanity in a different light, but other than that there was so much more I felt it needed. All in all it was not a defining film, it was not as wonderful as people made it to be, but I don’t think it was trash in anyway and I CERTAINLY don’t think that people that like it don’t understand horror or should be called idiots or shit-heads or whatever. The film does require a certain understanding to really get but I felt like it didn’t do the concept well. I did enjoy aspects, but there was more wrong with it in my eyes then there was perfectly done.
