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We’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook! The film launched us headlong into an era of grief horror. We caught up with Kent at Fantastic Fest immediately following her live guest spot on Mike Flanagan’s podcast, Directors Commentary. The occasion marked the show’s first live episode and Kent’s first time watching the film since it was released a decade ago. “Seeing it again just now with Mike Flanagan, and we were doing that commentary, it felt, especially towards the end, I felt very nostalgic.”
Kent weaponizes sound, (and the lack thereof) throughout to build an absolutely dreadful atmosphere. The movie contains minimal music, especially for a horror film: “A lot of sound almost sounds like music, and a lot of the music sounds like sound. So we tried to get it so that it blended together. I would say it’s under 10 or under 15 [minutes of music] max.”
The Babadook (Mr. Babadook) has become a horror icon, it turns out the actor (Tim Purcell) who brought the creature to life was not a seasoned creature performer, but rather a member of the art department. “He was, I wouldn’t say freakishly tall, but six foot seven is tall. Impressively. It’s impressively tall. That’s probably a more polite way of putting it. And he was very skinny, angular and a sportsman, so he knew how to move. It was perfect.”
Read Mike Gingold’s original review of The Babadook right here.
Another tidbit we learned while chatting with Kent is that they used what Kent calls a “severely haunted” location. “I think it’s weird that when we shot on that day, no ghosts presented themselves, but on the scout, they were everywhere. I mean, I’ve got the photos to prove it.” Consider this our official request for those ghost pics, from The Babadook set!
So where does the director (at least partially) responsible for a major trend in the genre over the last decade see us heading next? “It’s hard to tell because I think all I would hope for the genre is that people write from themselves, they make films from their own experience. It doesn’t mean they have to have been through what they write about, but to have a personal take on it.”
“Because the genre is an inherently independent one, the best exponents of the genre have been fiercely independently made. I mean, look at how Halloween, the original, was made. Look at how The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was made. They’re not studio films. They’re independent films. Visions. And I think if people continue to embrace horror as an independent art form, that’s when we’ll continue to get surprising and wonderful new films out of it.”
Kent’s unwavering vision is what propelled The Babadook into its enduring legacy. “I had people who were involved financially at the fine cut stage saying ‘this film is shit. It’s not scary. It’s not this, it’s not that, it’s too this, too that.’
“It’s only because I had final cut with my producer that we were able to protect the film. If that was a studio experience, the film that I made would not exist. I don’t think I would be able to, I don’t think I’d have a career. It would not become canon as it has. Like it or hate it, it doesn’t matter. Someone asked me the other day, will we ever get the director’s cut of Babadook? I said there’s nothing I withheld. ”
Kent is currently working on a new film adaptation based on a book. “Not a Stephen King, but a horror author who everyone knows. I’m very optimistic that it will happen next year.” We’ll keep our speculation to ourselves for now, but we’ll be ready to celebrate Jennifer Kent’s latest, and of course, we’ll share that news with you as soon as we have confirmation.
In the meantime, celebrate with a rewatch of The Babadook, and watch our full Fantastic Fest interview below.
