By MICHAEL GINGOLD
It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since Australian writer/director Jennifer Kent’s THE BABADOOK first emerged from the shadows to terrify festival crowds and then general audiences. IFC Films and Iconic Events are marking the anniversary with a rerelease of the movie this week, and RUE MORGUE spoke with Kent about her film and its legacy.
Re-opening in theaters nationwide starting tomorrow, September 19 (go here to find venues and order tickets), THE BABADOOK focuses on Amelia (Essie Davis), who’s still haunted by the death of her husband seven years ago. Her state of mind isn’t helped by having to raise her severely troubled little son Samuel (Noah Wiseman), and to make matters worse, the arrival on her doorstep of a mysterious book called MISTER BABADOOK cues its titular monster invading her home. Dealing with intense emotional issues such as the loss of motherly love while also delivering serious scares, THE BABADOOK is just as powerful now as it was 10 years ago. And in the years since, its titular creature has achieved the unlikely status of a gay icon as well.
Do you look back at the decade since you first unleashed THE BABADOOK and think, where did the time go? And that this movie continues to be relevant and discussed?
Yeah, I feel very fortunate to have a rerelease of my first film. But it did shock me when someone first brought up the 10-year anniversary. I thought, wow, that’s incredible. It’s just flown.
Where did the name and the original concept for the Babadook come from?
I wanted an onomatopoeic name, something that sounded like a kid made it up. I experimented with different sounds and combinations of words, and once “Baba-dook” came up and I started playing with the rhythm and the sound of it, it just felt right. And then it became very easy to rhyme to it as well, which helped.
And here I thought the name was just an anagram of “a bad book.”
Yeah, I’ve seen that mentioned and thought, oh, that’s pretty good. I don’t know who invented that theory, but it’s not true, though it’s quite genius. I wasn’t that smart. But that’s what I love about film: It can take on new meaning for people that goes beyond what the director intended.
As for the original conception of the creature, the design is elements of old cinema, like Georges Méliès. I watched all of his old, beautiful silent films and loved the jerkiness of the special effects. And the sort of outer layer of the Babadook came from photos of Lon Chaney’s LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, which is a lost film. We look at those images now and think, oh, that’s so old-fashioned, and I love that about it, because it feels hokey, which in context is kind of scary once you see what’s underneath. It’s like this creature is approximating humanity through a masklike face and gentlemanly exterior.
THE BABADOOK was a vanguard of two trends of modern horror films, from women directors and from Australia. Has it been exciting to see all the movies that have followed in your footsteps?
It is. It’s so hard to get films made, and to see it being slightly easier to have horror movies with some complexity and depth come out in the period since has been exciting, and it has just grown. There are some amazing films that have been made in the last 10 years. It’s not that horror films like that didn’t exist before, but I believe we went through a period where there wasn’t a focus on making them.
And as for women directing anything, I’m in there supporting it. Just for diversity, we need all kinds of storytellers out there. It’s a fantastic time, but it’s also a very hard time in cinema; making films has become more and more difficult for everyone, regardless of their gender. To make something truly independent is a real challenge now in many ways, just by virtue of this new streaming world we’re in. It’s a bit like the Wild West, really.
It seems like there are more possibilities to make films, but fewer opportunities to see them on a big screen.
Exactly, and that to me is pretty sad. I make an effort to go to the cinema at least once a week, if not more.
On that note, do you have any especially strong memories of seeing THE BABADOOK with any specific audiences?
Yeah, with the Sundance Film Festival audience in Salt Lake City. Sundance always does a screening there, and for some reason, they’re the most receptive, appreciative audience you will ever encounter as a filmmaker. I just remember every response being amplified 100 times, so to see and hear people literally screaming in the theater was an absolute thrill. When you can feel that engagement, it’s such a beautiful experience. I don’t usually love watching my own work on the big screen; once I’ve jettisoned it off into the ether, I’ve usually had my fill of it. But I am toying with the idea of sitting in on a screening, because I’m going to be in America for a few Q&As in New York and LA. So maybe if I have the time, I might sit and watch the whole film again.
In the years since, have you been approached by women who could identify with what Amelia goes through, in terms of motherhood and all the tough themes the movie deals with?
I was actually concerned about that pre-release, and that I would be attacked for creating a character like Amelia, because she’s not perfect, and because it sinks to the depths, emotionally, throughout the story. But the opposite really happened, which was women’s relief at seeing a complex and flawed character on the screen. A lot of women had enormous compassion for Amelia, which was surprising to me, and I couldn’t have hoped for a better response. I also had a lot of responses from men, actually–from men who had lost partners, and one had lost his dad and was raised with his two brothers by a single mom. The film really spoke to them as well, in terms of their loss and it having an impact when they saw it, a good one.
The most surprising response has been the Babadook becoming a gay icon on-line. How did you respond to that at first, and how do you look at that now that it has been an established trope for several years?
Well, it’s every director’s dream to have elements of their film embraced widely in popular culture. One of the most surreal moments has been seeing some mention of it on DRAG RACE, which is one of my favorite shows. To sit there watching that play out is surreal and somehow beautiful. And I love it.
It’s funny, because you wouldn’t necessarily look at this creature on the surface and think of him that way.
Well, it started with a miscategorizing of it at Netflix; that’s how I was told it came about. And then some genius just ran with it, the memes started and it just took off. And I think it’s fantastic. I remember watching either the most recent or one of the most recent SCREAMs, and there’s mention of THE BABADOOK at the beginning and the end, and it just blows my mind that the film is being referenced in other movie. It’s the greatest compliment.
Has there been any talk of a sequel or some other kind of follow-up film in the decade since THE BABADOOK’s release?
Oh yeah, but I’m not prepared to do that. I think I really explored what I needed to with that film. You know, I could be a lot richer, and there could be seven BABADOOKs by now, but I think everybody would be hella bored with that by now.
Do you have the right to control whether there is a sequel or not?
Yeah, I do. I was very happy to make the pop-up books for people to have, but that felt very different from making a sequel. It was something very precious for the fans, to own something physical.
You did reunite with Essie Davis for an episode of Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES.
Yes, it’s called “The Memory” and it’s the last episode in the series; it’s a ghost story. It was so wonderful to work with Ess again. I’m really proud of that, too; not many people know about it, but it’s on Netflix. And with that, I had final cut. Guillermo protected all of those directors, and we fought the good fight together. He would suggest things, I would say no and we would totally sort of thrash it out. But the decision was always mine to make. I’ve made three things [also including 2018’s THE NIGHTINGALE], and I consider CABINET to be a one-hour film, a short film, and they all come from me. I’m very fortunate, because it’s rare now for filmmakers to get final cut, which is horrible but true.
I’m assuming Noah Wiseman didn’t get to see the film when it first came out, because he was too young, but has he seen it since?
He has seen it since. He’s now, I believe, 15, 16, around that age, and very tall; he’s like six feet, which blows my mind. When the film came out and we had our premiere, he went with his dad. I think he saw the first 20 minutes, and then his dad took him out when it started getting too scary. And I’m know he’s seen it since. He should be very proud; he’s an incredible young actor. But he’s not interested in acting anymore; that just wasn’t on his path. I think he might be interested in engineering, from the last time I heard. I’m fortunate to have had him for that one beautiful performance.
THE BABADOOK also came at the beginning of a trend of films referred to as “elevated horror”–a term I don’t like at all.
Yeah, I don’t like it either, right? It’s like saying the rest of horror is shit. It’s all elevated, it’s all good, even slashers, everything; even trashy horror is good. It has something good about it, you know? Yeah, I’m not a fan of that term either.
Then let’s just say more ambitious horror. THE BABADOOK was definitely at the forefront of that. Are there any films since, that followed in that path, that you especially admire?
I’ve been asked that before, and there are many films that I admire. I’ve mentioned HIS HOUSE, which is the film that just today is sticking with me. If you asked me on a different day, I might come up with another, but I feel HIS HOUSE is a highly underrated film that kind of slipped under the radar. That director [Remi Weekes] is very talented and did a beautiful job, and I was very scared by that film. I’m sure there are many more. I’ve been in a headspace lately where I’m watching old films, so I feel like I’m in a different time zone right now. I mean, I’m thinking more in terms of DIABOLIQUE and EYES WITHOUT A FACE and things like that.
Are you working on any horror projects right now?
Yes, I’ve got a six-part Irish horror series set in the 1700s that’s based on some creatures within Irish folklore, which is particularly frightening. What I love about it is it’s so ambiguous. I’m also working on an adaptation of a beloved horror author’s book, which I can’t really speak about right now, but in a couple of weeks we’ll probably announce it.
You once mentioned that you wanted to do something related to Edgar Allan Poe. Is that something you’re still working on?
Well, I think Mike Flanagan got in there first with FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, which I haven’t seen. I love his stuff, but I haven’t gotten to that yet. So I’ve moved away from that idea. I feel more excited by these current ideas now.
