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Mister Babadook (simply known as the Babadook) is the titular main antagonist of the 2014 Australian horror film of the same name. It is a supernatural creature who haunted Amelia and her son Samuel after they read its poem inside a pop-up book.

He was portrayed by Tim Purcell.

About

The Babadook most generally appears as a towering, shadowy bogeyman wearing a black coat and hat, with long, claw-like hands and a pale, frightening face. Its name comes from the rumble and three short knocks that herald its appearance: "BA-ba-dook-dook-dook". The Babadook haunts whomever reads its poem and hides inside a pop-up book that mysteriously appears in random homes. As its prey becomes more frightened, the Babadook becomes more monstrous. When single mother Amelia reads the book to Samuel, both she and her son become increasingly paranoid.

When Samuel frightens his cousin by telling her about the Babadook, Amelia tries to destroy the book by ripping its pages apart and throwing it away. To her horror, the Babadook crudely repairs the book and places it on the front door the following day, but now contains an additional poem that tells Amelia that the Babadook will haunt her even more if she continues to resist it, followed by pop-up illustrations that show a mother that vaguely resembles Amelia strangling and breaking a dog's neck that represents her murdering her dog Bugsy, strangling a young boy that resembles her son Samuel, and slitting her own throat with a knife. Horrified, Amelia places the book on the barbeque grill and pours gas all over it before lighting it up with a matchstick, thus burning it into ashes.

The Babadook's presence pushes Amelia to the brink of insanity. She develops a sleeping disorder and keeps both Samuel and herself inside the house for days on end. Eventually, the Babadook takes over Amelia's mind and forces her to kill their dog, fulfilling its prophecy. Amelia is about to kill Samuel, but he manages to trap her and tie her down. She then vomits a very gross red substance. The Babadook is rejected from Amelia and tries attacking Samuel, but is backed into a corner by his mother. As Amelia faces the fiend, she has a vision of her late husband, whose death she has been in denial about ever since Samuel was born. Finding the courage to face her inner demons, Amelia stands up to the Babadook, shouting that she will kill it if it tries to harm Samuel. Defeated, the Babadook then collapses in front of her, revealed to be nothing but a hat and trench-coat. As Amelia reaches for it, the clothes rise as the shrieking Babadook rushes out of the room and locks itself inside the basement, where all of her husband's possessions are.

The film ends with Amelia celebrating Samuel's birthday. Amelia gathers up worms from the garden and enters the basement, where the Babadook appears. She leaves the bowl as food for the Babadook, which pushes the bowl into the shadows and devours the worms. While the Babadook cannot be banished, Amelia and Samuel manage to live their lives.

Symbolism

The Babadook is considered to be the embodiment of grief. As the film progresses, the five stages play out as the following:

Denial

Ever since her husband died, Amelia has been avoiding the issue to the point where she barely acknowledges his existence. This has caused her to distance herself from anyone who tries to talk to her about it, which leaves her isolated except for her son. Whenever Amelia tries to ignore or get rid of it, the Babadook comes back even scarier than before.

Anger

The Babadook threatens to make Amelia kill her son and dog. After a lack of sleep, Amelia snaps at Samuel and their relationship gets progressively worse, until she seriously considers ending his life.

Fear

The Babadook makes itself visible to Amelia, spooking her by hiding in the background at first, then by turning into a big black silhouette and cornering her in her bedroom.

Bargaining

Amelia tries to hide from the Babadook in her basement. There she has a vision of her dead husband, but it is really the Babadook in disguise. He tells her to give him Samuel and everything will be fine.

Acceptance

It is only when Amelia stops being scared and comes to terms with her husband's death that the Babadook loses its power over her.

Gallery

Images

Mister Babadook's illustration in his book.

His book repaired in front of Amelia's front door after Amelia had destroyed it.

"See him in your room at night and you won't sleep a wink" - An illustration of the Babadook haunting Samuel in his bed, followed by it saying "LET ME IN!".

"I'll soon take off my funny disguise
(take heed of what you've read...)
And once you see what's underneath..."

An illustration showing the Babadook, with a bigger and more scarier appearance, haunting Amelia in her bed, followed by it saying "LET ME IN!".

Mister Babadook on TV.

Babadook in the shadows.

Videos

The Babadook - Explained Ryan's Theory

Trivia

• The film was inspired by the director's 2005 short film Monster.
• The Babadook's name in Hebrew roughly translates to "He is coming for sure". Its name is also an anagram for "A bad book".
  • According to an interview, the term babadook is an invention of writer/director Jennifer Kent. It is improvised from the Serbo-Croatian word for the boogeyman: babaroga
• In Scream (2022), Tara Carpenter mentioned his titular film as her favourite horror movie at the start during the phonecall with Ghostface, and again after she shot her deceptive murderous former best friend, Amber Freeman.