[Intro]
[YMS] Alright, so I saw The Babadook, and I gotta say I'm a little disappointed.
People are raving about this movie as though it's some sort of horror masterpiece.
But to me, it was really... alright.
It's definitely not a terrible movie, and there's things that it did quite well,
But I see absolutely no reason to be putting it on such a ridiculous pedestal.
Like I understand that people were legitimately scared by it,
But as with any other horror movie, I'm going to ask this again.
If you're not scared by it, what does it offer?
Now the answer to that question is definitely not nothing, but to me
It's definitely not enough to justify going crazy over it.
So allow me to explain exactly what it did well, and what it did not so well.
First shot of the movie: Awesome. Fantastic. No complaints there.
In fact, I'm willing to say it's pretty exceptional. It's really well executed and
It does a great job hinting at things that get explained as the film goes on.
There's also some nice subtlety towards how miserable our main character is
At the hands of her own son.
Everything before the title is great! And speaking of the title,
The title is pretty fuckin stupid!
I have no issue with the main villain of the film being called 'The Babadook'.
I have no issue with the main villain of the film being called 'The Babadook',
But when you're trying to sell the movie to people who haven't seen it,
And also, it's a movie that you're supposed to take really seriously, then having a
Title that doesn't sound so fuckin stupid might not hurt! So right away the
Misery that she's experiencing because of her son becomes a little less subtle.
[Mom] What have you done? [Son] It's not broken, it just slipped!
[Mom] I dont't want you firing things off in the house anymo- [Son] Wa-wa-wait! Watch this. When the monster comes, I'm gonna do this! [Mom] Please don't! *Window shatters*
[YMS] Yep, just look at your mom, and then look at the camera. That's kind of annoying.
If there's one thing that this movie does really well, it's making me feel
Really bad for the main character.
Like this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how annoying her son is.
But working in the dementia ward? Holy shit.
So if you haven't guessed already, this review contains quite a lot of spoilers.
Some of which I'll be saying right now. So if you thought this was going to be
spoiler-free, you should probably leave like right now. So within a few minutes, they reveal
The details behind her husband's death.
[Son] My dad's in the cemetery. [Woman] *Pause* Oh! That's... [Son] He got killed driving mom to hopsital to have me. [Mom] Samuel!
[YMS] And all I could think was holy crap, way to take away the mystery and subtlety.
There's no reason why this exact same scene couldn't have taken place at a
Later point in the film.
I felt like if the script was a bit more patient with it, then A) That would have had more effect, and
B) The rest in the movie wouldn't feel so ridiculously repetitive.
Everything before the opening title is so subtle in its approach, but if you
completely reveal everything to its fullest extent within the next five minutes,
Then not only does it make the initial subtlety kinda pointless in the
first place, but you miss a giant opportunity to watch things grow and develop,
And the rest of the movie just becomes that much more repetitive.
Like there's just so much of this movie that just shows her being emotionally
Tortured by her son, but just try to imagine if we saw all of that take place
and then had that information revealed to us.
It would mean that everything that had been shown would suddenly have a new
Context to it. So not only would the reveal be more powerful, but it would
Really help improve your second watch with that new information.
You can flat out say that the dad's dead if you want, but revealing the fact that
her son played such a crucial role in her husband's death
at the beginning of the film really makes me kinda feel like the script came
prematurely. So much for foreplay. So where some of my issues lie in the overall
structure and pacing, there were also quite a bit of moments that really irked me in its presentation.
Like what happens when he climbs this swing doesn't make any sense
If you look at where he starts.
Alright, so his foot is on that bar, and then he climbs up that same bar with his
hands, and then reaches up to climb up that same bar again.
I can see what the director tried to do, but it just did not work.
Like you just wanted it to seem as though the kid was climbing really high, but you
didn't have that much of a swing set to work with. I wish I didn't notice that he's
climbing up the same bar three times, but it's really difficult not to notice.
Like that's the only bar above where he put his foot, and you can see the rest
Of the swing set out of focus in the background. Just really kinda sloppy and poorly executed.
I know, I know, this is one small part that doesn't really have
much of a bearing on the overall film, but trust me, there's a similar but much
more damning example of something like this.
Was nobody bothered by how horribly executed the birthday party scene was?
[Girl] Your dad died so he didn't have to be with you. [Samuel] That's not true!
[Girl] And your mom doesn't want you.
[Girl] No one wants you. *Samuel shoves girl, girl falls to the ground*
[YMS] It's clear that I'm supposed to take this scene really seriously, but I was
Laughing my ass off. How the fuck did she pull a 180 inbetween cuts? "This is Fun!" 81 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,460 Literally all you would have to do to fix that is just not include this shot.
Literally all you would have to do to fix that is just not include this shot.
Here, let me edit that for you you! [Girl] Your dad died so he didn't have to be with you. [Samuel] That's not true!
[Girl] And your mom doesn't want you.
[Girl] No one wants you. *Girl hits ground, starts crying* [YMS] Was there anything wrong with that? It's a lot more reasonable to imagine
Her turning the other way as she's falling, than seeing her glitch the other way.
"Waaah. Instant blood trail from my nose." I can't even watch this scene without
instantly thinking of that infamous clip from Dexter, Season 8.
*Harrison jogging on a treadmill* *Harrison falling hilariously*
*Harrison crying* [YMS] So we're introduced to a dog, and the first thing I can think of is "It's gonna die."
And since this is a groundbreakingly original and totally-not-clichéd-
-in-the-slightest horror movie, yep, the dog dies, no surprise there whatsoever.
Oh hey, the dog's scratching on the door under the stairs that leads to the basement.
I, for one, am kinda sick of seeing horror movies taking place in houses with that exact same layout.
It's beyond clichéd at this point, and I don't think it would be that difficult to be a
Bit more original. So she finds the creepy ass book of The Babadook, and decides
It's a great idea to read it to her son before bed.
Fuckin idiot. One thing I will say is that the scenes with this book are
Incredibly well done.
The accompanying atmospheric sounds, mixed with a fantastic art design make
These scenes creepy every time I watch them.
If the actual Babadook were anything like what we see in the book, then it might be creepy as well.
But nope. It's just a hipster in a top hat. Its just some fuckin dude! So when I see it,
I'm not scared by it, because it looks stupid. And when I don't see it, I'm not
Scared by it, because I can't help but be distracted by how obnoxiously familiar
Those stock sound effects are. *Mom groans, Monster roars, Monster roars again identically*
*Monster screeches, Monster screeches again identically*
[YMS] I can understand how someone could be scared during this scene if they've never
Heard those sounds. Unfortunately, this movie discriminates against people who
Have heard those sounds. *Monster screeches again*
[YMS] Just fuckin record something yourself. If there's one thing I enjoyed in this movie,
It's watching our main character slowly go insane.
The 'Social Services/Cockroach' scene is one of my favorites in the whole film.
Part of the reason why I enjoy these scenes is because our main actor is by far the best one.
The child actor is better than most child actors, and 'great' for a child actor,
But that does not mean that he is a great actor.
When it comes to my immersion, it does not make a bit of difference what age the
Character is when I see them smiling at points they're not supposed to.
Sure, I can say he's just a kid, so I'll give him some extra credit, but that
Doesn't make me any less 'taken-out' of this scene when I see it happen.
If you're able to watch unrealistic child performances, while simultaneously
Believing that they're the characters in the story's universe, then good for you.
But that is something that I am apparently not capable of, no matter how hard I try.
I almost wish I knew nothing about film or editing tricks, so I can be scared when I watch this.
Because every time it happens, no matter what the movie, it always feels so cheap.
I'm kind of sick of seeing a bunch of quick cuts to make something come at you
Really fast. It kind of implies that what you're actually seeing isn't all that
Scary if you have to do that. Anyway, the Babadook isn't terrible, and there's
Parts of it that I really liked. It was decently well shot cinematography-wise,
But there were quite a few issues in terms of execution.
If you're not automatically immersed in it, then this is just an above-average horror movie.
If I had to give it a number, I would give it a 6 out of 10. When I watch
this movie, there's certain points that I can totally understand how someone could
Be immersed in it and take it seriously.
Even though I wasn't able to be scared by it, I can totally understand how someone would be.
So to those of you who were scared by it, do you still think it would be a
fantastic movie if you weren't?
There's plenty of movies that I love that aren't necessarily great.
I mean, I personally loved 'The Dirties', but I gave it a 6 out of 10,
And if you forgot already, that's the exact same rating I gave this movie.
I feel like just because I love something and feel a personal connection
with it, doesn't mean I should over-inflate it when I talk about its quality.
You know? And I really wanted to get sucked in to this movie too. I turned the lights off and everything.
But I guess I just couldn't 'Get Spooked' by The Babadook. *Static*
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Participate in the chat. We love dank memes!
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We've got video games, We've got Guillermo. *static*
Oh my god. Yes, Guillermo! *Guillermo ends the PS3 support chat permaturely* [YMS] What the fuck?!
What the fuck is wrong with you, you piece of shit? You fuckin asshole!
What an asshole... Where were you when Guillermo... *Chuckle*
...Dipped? [Subtitles by: Sean Egan (seanegan777@gmail.com)]