The Babadook (2014, Australia) is Jennifer Kent’s acclaimed feature directorial debut, expanded from her earlier short film Monster. Widowed single mother Amelia (Essie Davis) and her troubled young son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) find their fragile household upended when a sinister pop-up book called Mister Babadook appears in their home, and its title creature refuses to be ignored. Daniel Henshall and Hayley McElhinney round out a small, tightly focused cast in a film built almost entirely around this one household. Widely acclaimed on release, the film would go on to a strange second life years later as an unlikely LGBTQ+ icon and internet meme. Andy Nelson and Pete Wright discuss the film on The Next Reel, a TruStory FM podcast covering cinema since 2011, as part of their Horror Debuts series.

A Beloved Horror Debut, Examined Closely

This season on The Next Reel, Pete and Andy are spending the year with films directed or co-directed by women, and Horror Debuts continues that work with a focus on horror made early in a director’s career. Following Messiah of Evil, Goodnight Mommy, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, this episode tackles Jennifer Kent’s widely beloved feature debut—a film Pete and Andy both respect as filmmaking but connect with unevenly as a story. It makes for one of the more genuinely split conversations in the series so far. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue the Horror Debuts series with a conversation about The Babadook.

A Metaphor Worn Right on Its Sleeve

Both hosts agree the film’s central metaphor for grief is about as overt as horror metaphors get, but they land in different places on whether that’s a strength or a weakness. Andy’s first viewing, done deliberately without reading into the symbolism, left him cold—it was only on a later, more informed watch that the film clicked for him. Pete finds the heavy-handedness less of an obstacle, appreciating how directly the film uses its monster to talk about grief, addiction, and trauma.

A Difficult Mother and Son to Connect With

Pete and Andy spend real time on how hard it is to embrace Amelia and Samuel as written, given how unwell and difficult they both are for most of the runtime. They debate whether that difficulty is a flaw in the writing or an intentional part of what the film is trying to do, and how much sympathy a horror film needs to earn before its scares can really land.

The Babadook’s Unlikely Second Life

Years after release, the film found new life online as an LGBTQ+ icon and meme, something neither host had any idea about going in. Andy walks through how the idea started on Tumblr, spread across Twitter and Instagram, and eventually got serious treatment in outlets like Vox—turning a horror movie monster into an unexpected symbol of queer identity and defiance.

Craft, Performance, and Practical Effects

Whatever their differences on the story, Pete and Andy are aligned on the filmmaking itself—the visual design, the practical creature effects, and Noah Wiseman’s demanding performance as Samuel all come in for real praise. They also dig into how the Babadook’s look draws on classic horror history, and how Kent worked to protect her young star from the film’s darker material during production.

Key Discussion Points

• The film expands on Kent’s 2005 short film Monster, which both hosts recommend on its own terms.
• The design of the Babadook creature was inspired in part by the “Man in the Beaver Hat” from the lost 1927 film London After Midnight.
• Noah Wiseman was six years old during filming, and Kent has spoken about deliberately protecting him from the film’s disturbing content on set.
• Danny Pintauro’s child performance in Cujo comes up as a comparison point for Wiseman’s work here.
• The film’s most overt symbols—glass in the soup, insects in the walls—get picked apart for what they might represent beyond the central metaphor.

Pete and Andy don’t fully agree on how well this one works as a story, but they’re united on the strength of Kent’s filmmaking and the surprising richness of the conversation it opens up—grief, parenting, and a genuinely strange internet afterlife all in one film. It’s a great one to dig into either for the first time or with fresh eyes. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in. The Next Reel on TruStory FM—when the movie ends, our conversation begins!

Before You Watch

What is the Horror Debuts series, and where does this episode fit?

Horror Debuts is Pete and Andy’s series spotlighting horror films made by women directors, with a focus on work from early in their careers. The Babadook is the fourth film in the series, following Messiah of Evil, Goodnight Mommy, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. The series continues from there with The Lure and Saint Maud, plus a member bonus episode on Relic. The series later grew to include Talk to Me as an additional entry. Each episode stands on its own, so it’s fine to jump in here first.

What is this whole season of The Next Reel about?

This season, every series and episode on the show is built around films directed or co-directed by women, spanning whatever genres and eras Pete and Andy dig into—Horror Debuts is just one strand of that larger project, focused specifically on horror. It follows the 80s Comedy with Coolidge and Heckerling series and leads into 10 Year Anniversaries next.

What did Pete and Andy think of the film?

Both hosts respect Kent’s filmmaking, but they connect with the story itself unevenly. Andy’s appreciation grew significantly on a second, more informed viewing, while Pete finds the film’s heavy-handed metaphor less of a problem than the difficulty of connecting with its central characters.

Is The Babadook worth watching?

Yes—it’s a widely acclaimed, influential piece of modern horror, even if Pete and Andy don’t fully agree on how well its story holds together. Go in ready for an overt, unmistakable metaphor rather than a subtle one.

Episode Resources

Watch & Discover

• Watch the Film: Amazon | Apple TV | Letterboxd | Trailer | Flickchart

Film Sundries

• Read Draft 6.3 of the screenplay, written by Jennifer Kent.
• Watch Kent’s 2005 short film Monster, the direct predecessor to this film.

What to Listen to Next

• TNR: Cujo, from our Stephen King series, referenced directly in this episode as a child-performance comparison for Noah Wiseman.
• TNR: Relic, another Australian horror debut from the Horror Debuts series, directly compared to this film in the Retake episode.
• Cinema Scope: Down Under and Dirty: Ozploitation Cinema, Andy’s conversation on Australian genre filmmaking history.

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