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The Babadook has been buzzing ever since it debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. During Austin’s Fantastic Fest last week, The Babadook was met with enthusiastic praise from audiences, which is a great sign for a horror film playing in front of an Austin crowd that takes its films very seriously. With the film releasing in a couple of months, the hype will continue to build.
The Babadook is Australian director Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut about a recently-widowed mother (Essie Davis) finding trouble keeping her son, Sam (Noah Wiseman) disciplined. When Sam’s violent nightmares manifest themselves through a mysterious storybook, The Babadook, that appears in their house, Sam’s violent tendencies begin to grow. However, what may have seemed like nightmarish hallucinations in Sam’s head could actually be a very real and sinister being.
The Babadook will be available on VOD and in theaters on November 28th, but if you’re in Chicago, it will be screening at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival on October 10th and 21st. You can read the film’s synopsis below.
Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia (Essie Davis) is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her ‘out of control’ 6 year-old, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel’s dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both.When a disturbing storybook called ‘The Babadook’ turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he’s been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control, he becomes more unpredictable and violent. Amelia, genuinely frightened by her son’s behaviour, is forced to medicate him. But when Amelia begins to see glimpses of a sinister presence all around her, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may be real.