The Babadook · reception & legacy

2014 · Jennifer Kent

How The Babadook has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

It premiered quietly at Sundance 2014 and barely made a dent in Australian cinemas, but critical raves abroad — capped by William Friedkin tweeting he'd never seen a more terrifying film — turned it into an instant modern classic and the founding text of the decade's 'elevated horror' wave.

What's debated

It's the film fans point to when arguing whether 'horror as trauma metaphor' was a revelation or the genre's most tired trend — and whether the movie itself is genuinely terrifying or just critically overpraised.

Its footprint

In 2017 a Netflix categorisation quirk filed it under LGBT films, and the internet ran with it: the Babadook became a beloved Pride meme and unofficial gay icon, complete with Babadooks marching at Pride parades. The book's refrain — 'you can't get rid of the Babadook' — is endlessly quoted.

Where it stands

A fixture of the 2010s horror canon and a Letterboxd staple — the 'you must have seen this' entry point for the whole A24-era wave of grief-horror.

★ Did you know? Jennifer Kent skipped film school and instead wrote to Lars von Trier asking to work on Dogville (2003), learning directing by shadowing him on set — and the film grew out of her 2005 short 'Monster', with the Mister Babadook pop-up book later crowdfunded into a real, buyable object.

Named by the director

Influences Jennifer Kent has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

London After Midnight (1927) — Kent said the Babadook's top-hatted, wide-eyed look was directly modelled on Lon Chaney in this lost silent film.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) — Kent cited German Expressionist silent horror as the visual template for the film's stark, storybook world.
Nosferatu (1922) — Named by Kent among the silent-era horror films whose handmade, shadow-driven scares she wanted to revive.
Vampyr (1932) — Kent pointed to Dreyer's dreamlike horror as an influence on the film's uncanny, in-camera atmosphere.
Lars von Trier — Kent has said working under him on Dogville was her film school, teaching her uncompromising direction.