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Are those boring old movies too tame for you? Have you been yearning for something to keep you up at night? Join your devilish hosts, Natalya, Sean and Mason, as we break down all your new favorite horror movies. From slashers to schlock, we’ll cover the films that have kept viewers on the edge of their seats for generations, all while providing some insightful (and not-so-insightful) commentary along the way. So grab your pitchforks, don your hockey mask and join us as we answer the one question on everyone’s lips:
What’s your favorite scary movie?
Mason
Hello and welcome listeners to the second ever episode of Cinemacabre, WKNC's horror movie review podcast. I am your host for this episode Mason Baker aka DJ crush joined by. Hi,
Natalya
I'm Natalia here known as DJ Roxy at the station. So happy to be back.
Sean Ferris
Hey everybody. I am Sean also known as lead pipe, also known as Sean.
Natalya
It's good to
Sean Ferris
know it's like it's my stage.
Mason
And as to not bury the lead, as you all are currently watching this episode, you already know what we're gonna be talking about. This episode, we're going to be talking about the acclaimed 2014 horror film, The babba duck,
Sean Ferris
bah, bah, bah, doo, doo, doo.
Natalya
This movie was awesome.
Mason
I I guess we're just gonna go ahead and jump into I mean,
Natalya
with our with our basic thoughts. I thought this movie was awesome.
Mason
I really enjoyed this movie.
Sean Ferris
I just to be contrarian, because I did like it. Yeah, I hated this movie. Oh,
Natalya
what do you hate? Too good.
Okay, trash. Garbage.
Sean Ferris
I think we can all agree that this was a great movie, and definitely deserving of the acclaim it has. Like,
Natalya
I'm this, like, I kind of touched on this like in like our first episode, which you should totally go watch
Mason
if you have not already for some reason. Um,
Natalya
but the Babadook was like, even earlier than, like, the elevated horror that we really talk about now, like I mentioned, like, get out and hereditary. But that's like, three, four years later than the Babadook. Like this one I was hearing about, like, everywhere, like how good it is. And like how good it is like for a horror movie, which like, I think it came at a time, like where we didn't really put value in horror very much, which I want to change. I think we should value horror so so much. Absolutely. Like, it was like one of the first ones and it's like, so interesting that like, an international horror movie from Australia made such an impact. Definitely on audiences. I feel
Mason
like we can obviously touch on this later in the podcast. But um, 2014 was kind of the tail end of what I would call the not dark ages, but the boring ages of horror. It was absolutely it was a lot of gritty remakes. It was a lot of things that wanted to be the conjuring but going into the babba duck. There are definitely a lot of those elements in it like flickering lights, long shots, but it's so cleverly done that I think it really holds its own against a those movies and be even the things that came after it kind of ushering in this age of quote, unquote, elevated horror, which again, I can touch on my beef with that term later. But it's worth noting for this kind of period that this ushered in. Yeah, I'm
Natalya
gonna ask you guys like how much did you know about the movie? Like going into it?
Sean Ferris
I'm gonna be honest, I didn't know a single thing. Nothing. I really hadn't heard too much about it. Other than it was probably one of the most recent like really good Australian horror movies at least ones that have like reached international audiences. Obviously we're not from Australia. So yeah, maybe they have some you know, the scene might be crazy down there but who knows?
Natalya
Their life is horror. All those animals Yeah.
Sean Ferris
That's probably what you know, springs them to make a really good horror movie is they have to feel anything.
Mason
You have to really push up because if your entire life is like that, you know,
Natalya
this movie is just like about like one of those like really scary poisonous spiders kind of fog, other bugs going on which will definitely get into something that can definitely poison your thinking about the movie going in.
Mason
The only thing that I really knew about it is the reason that we chose this to begin with. October is LGBTQIA plus History Month. And we chose the Babel duck, solely because of the memes of the Babel duck being a queer icon,
Natalya
queer icon, something a meme. Netflix said it, Netflix said it themselves, and we trust them with anything just in
Sean Ferris
case of movies. Just to you,
Mason
the audience at home don't know the context of literally anything we just said. In their infinite wisdom, Netflix accidentally put the babba duck under LGBTQ plus movies, which just rocketed it into queer culture, because everybody thought that was so funny is the movie has no queer themes in the slightest.
Natalya
I thought this, I thought this movie was really cool. You're honestly, like every seat in it. Queer
Mason
in that strange sense. But we do want to get started. Even though we're several minutes into the podcast, the
Natalya
movie starts. And I think like the first shot is her falling into bed. Amelia is our main character.
Mason
The first shot is the car crash. Is that Yeah, yeah,
Sean Ferris
that's followed into her falling into the same lighting. So like, almost like she's just like, dreaming about this all the time. Um,
Natalya
the car crash is. I guess it's her dream about the day that her son was born Samuel who we will get into love Samuel. But on the way to the hospital, her she's in a car crash with her husband and her husband dies. So same day that her son is born, her husband dies. And it eats at her every day. And
Mason
she handles that very well and does not take it out on Samuel in the slightest. Yeah,
Sean Ferris
and then the movie ends Yes. Just about a good time.
Mason
It's just a very heartwarming movie through it is not
Natalya
heartwarming. She she's really struggling to not have her husband and her life and like the fact that her son is the reminder of his death every day. But we like whenever she wakes up. I think that that's like the first time we see Samuel immediately introduces his weapons. He's because he's like talking about protecting her. Yes, she's like, started talking about monsters yet at this point.
Mason
I think probably by this point he has. It's been previously established that Samuel is very, very terrified of monsters for a soon to be seven year old. Which causes Amelia. Quite a lot of strife. Because he is very keen on protecting his mother. You know, love him for that. Even if it means just rocketing a ball through a window. Yeah, so he's doing a real bang up job on protecting her so
Natalya
many weapons.
Mason
He got quite a few concerning amount almost. Yeah.
Natalya
Um, he ends up getting not expelled from school that he's into trouble at school because he brought his weapons there. And so I think Amelia Doesn't she have to leave work where she works. a care home? Yes. For the elderly. She's always taking care of people in her life food.
Mason
The true horror is elderly care homes in this movie, because just like it can be in real life. Nobody there likes her. So even in her work environment, she kind of can't get any respite from the the troubles of her life, which does become very prevalent as we get later into the film. Within the context of the movie, Samuel shares a birthday party every year with his cousin Ruby. And it's implied very early in the film that this is because Amelia kind of cannot stand the thought of doing anything on that day. Obviously, the day that both her husband Oscar died and that Samuel was born. Obviously a very tumultuous time for that family, which does get brought up I think by the neighbor. On the drive home from the park after Sam rockets himself office swings up. Mrs. Roach is like I'm not going to do an impression of her because she's a very sweet old lady and I don't want to do that to her.
Natalya
Why not? Do it? No.
Mason
She is, um, essentially like, I know how hard this time is for you. You like you look really tired. And Amelia is offering your help to like to watch Sam Yeah, and this is when we get kind of the first thing inkling that Amelia is really repressing all of this, because she's like, No, no, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about that. And just continues on about her day. Yeah,
Natalya
she's like, fully struggling in silence. And like, people like know like that something happened to her, but like, she's not like letting anyone in about it. And she's just kind of like trying to get through all her days.
Sean Ferris
And nobody really empathizes with her except Mrs. Roach. Because like, sure, like her coworkers being very nice to her, but like he's not maybe not aware of everything that's happened or anything like that. Yeah. And her sister is completely dejected from the entire situation. Yeah. I would like to ask you guys, if you guys think there was any connection between Mrs. Roach and the baba can maybe we can leave this to later. I mean, the name is Mrs. Roach.
Mason
That That seems like a very obvious thing. That right? The um, the director chose on purpose. I don't think Roach is an extreme saving like common Cerny,
Sean Ferris
in this particular scene later that I I'll touch on later, because I
Natalya
feel like kind of what it is now. Okay.
Sean Ferris
When I'm one of the occurrences where the Babadook is visible, he's behind Mrs. Roach. Doesn't attacker doesn't, you know? Yeah, he's
Mason
just standing there to torment Amelia.
Sean Ferris
She is clearly alone. She's Mrs. So she was married at one point, elderly, she's very elderly. She has Parkinson's. So, you know, context can be taken from that saying that you probably had a spouse that has that has passed. Yeah. But the dog doesn't care. And
Mason
I think it might also be worth noting that I'm with Sam and more. Mrs. Roach in general. She is a fairly maternal figure. Like, um, she cares for Sam a lot. She cares for Amelia a lot. She is very insistent on like, Hey, I know that this is a hard time for you. So please, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. Which I feel like may factor into the reason the Bubba Duck takes on the appearance that we see later in the film. It is kind of Mrs. Roach may symbolize everything that Amelia knows that she should be and can't be.
Natalya
I would also think that like, maybe, and we'll definitely talk about this more. But like the baba duck itself is a metaphor for grief. Yeah, it is a manifestation
Mason
again not to bury the lead on this. Yeah, it is kind of very well known at this point. The bumper duck is about grief. Yeah.
Natalya
And like what happens when you don't accept it and how it can harm you and your relationships other people, but like, thinking about like that scare, like where the baba duck is in her house? Like I could fully believe that like she has struggled with her own grief. You know, she's lived her life but she's also learned how to like live with it because she's just watching TV when he shows up like in her house. No, I'm sure like, from like, just like for the horror of it like he was just there to like scare Amelia. You like I can I'm gonna come in. Yeah, I'm in her house like gonna be in your house too.
Sean Ferris
It definitely made us worried that she that
Mason
we Yeah, I guess I'm spoilers but obviously other than the dog this is one of the very few horror movies support no main characters die.
Natalya
Oh, buddy, Oscar. Yeah, that's the piece. Right?
Mason
But he was he was dead. When we saw him die. He's been dead for seven years.
Natalya
He has been dead for seven years. We know what Amelia is life is like now and how not well she's doing not stellar. Um, yeah, like so Samuels like super scared of monsters they have to like go check. Like his under his bed in closet every day. Like even though I think like the baba duck stuff kind of starts going like pretty soon into this or maybe like day two or day three when they read that story. Yeah. So just like we definitely know that Samuel super scared. And Amelia let Samuel choose any book to read before bed and he ends up choosing the baba duck, which ends up being a very disturbing book about Mr. babba duck who will come into your house and you will not be able to get rid of him and he will I don't know if the first version of the book shows him committing violence or just scaring the kid.
Sean Ferris
It's just scaring It's just scary because terrifying. Honestly,
Mason
the last lines in the book is and when you see what's under my funny disguise, you'll wish that you were dead. Yeah. Which comes up later?
Natalya
No, the book. Even though like it's just like paper, I feel like it's like the scariest version of the baba duck, honestly, like, the construction of it. It's a pop up book. beautifully made. It's so good.
Mason
I procraft is terrifying. It's amazing.
Natalya
But it's so scary. Like it scared me. I couldn't imagine being little Samuel seeing that. Like when they finished reading it. He is sobbing. So scared.
Mason
It immediately cancels. It immediately cuts to Amelia reading a different book and Sam just wailing. Yeah.
Sean Ferris
And that is kind of the catalyst of like everything that follows cuz obviously it Yeah.
Mason
Everything is
Natalya
always just at him. Yes. They
Sean Ferris
have kind of allowed him in by reading this book. And immediately. Amelia is like, we're never reading this again. She puts them on a top shelf. She looks it up.
Mason
It's just a story. She tries to console Sam. Yeah, it's just
Sean Ferris
a book to a grown adult. Yes, it's it is a book.
Natalya
Weird book. Yeah, somehow ended up in your house.
Mason
So my absolute homeboy in this movie, Robbie, Emilio's coworker at the Care Institute. us like, oh, well, if your son's sick. Take the rest of the day off. I'll cover for you. You're good. And Amelia. Finally, finally having a moment to herself. does not go picks him up. Even though Sam is not sick. He just is left with Claire. She goes to get ice cream, I think. And when she inevitably musters up the energy to come back. Claire has called her several times. And Sam is outside, just sitting on the ground. And Claire tells Amelia. Yeah, he like freaks me and Ruby out because he was he was talking to this bloody babytalk all day. That's the one accent you'll get. for me.
Natalya
It was Australia and it's those horror movie. So obligatory Australian accents, which
Mason
is when I think tensions really do start rising between Amelia and Sam. Because whenever Amelia confronts him about this, Sam pulls out from his pocket. What are they called? firecracker, firecrackers? I think they're the little things that you throw on the ground and they pop. Yeah.
Natalya
One of his many weapons. Where did he get all of these? No clue. Like,
Sean Ferris
apparently she purchased them online for him? Because she seems to be negligent. Mother. Well, yeah. So
Natalya
they do have internet and this Yeah, we're kind of like you they had a home computer. We're confused. Like what time period? This was set in early 2000s. That's
Mason
the end of the Internet has to
Natalya
be an internet in there. Yeah, and I feel like that's like one of like, the first times that we like, fully see him like actually being like disobedient, because like she told him like, don't talk about the Babadook Yeah, no, monster. Don't tell you're unclear about this. Yeah. And then guess what he did? He went and did that once and told us which like Samuel L move.
Mason
Really? You're not doing yourself any favors your king? Like,
Natalya
we would all like people to like them. Know? What did you guys have any? We
Mason
can um, I guess we'll we'll address the elephant in the room, which is dearest Samuel. Samuel. I understand why people don't like him. But I feel like that comes from a lot of misunderstanding. Because believe it or not, Sam is seven years old. You know? I can only speak for myself here. Not you dear listeners at home. I would hate seven year old me. Oh, yeah.
Sean Ferris
I think that's the universal experience. Yeah,
Natalya
like seven year olds, like aren't supposed to have it together. They're supposed to be kind of silly. It's goofy,
Mason
terrible twos and the sucky sevens.
Sean Ferris
Yeah.
Natalya
I think a lot of it because like one of the things that like before coming into, like, watching this movie and like, deciding to do the podcast episode on this, um, I just knew that people didn't like Samuel, and people will have very strong opinions about how much they didn't like him. But like, I think that people are very unsympathetic towards him. And like, what he's going through? I don't know if at the point where he's just talking about the Babadook Did they say that he's talking to him? Yeah, they're talking to him. He, once he has read the book, I would like to assume that he is starting to see the baba duck in his life. Um, and I think that that kind of comes from like, since the Bubba duck is grief, Samuels whole life, he has been surrounded by this grief that his mother like, hasn't really explained to him what that is like, he's he just doesn't know what grief feels like and what it does to people
Sean Ferris
who has inherited grief, which is something you can't really solve or with, because it's not part of your reality at all. It's, it's just something you like,
Natalya
feeling it's yeah,
Mason
it's a very strange type of grief, where I talk a little bit like, to this personally, where, um, if either somebody who should be important to you dies before you're born, or before you are really like cognizant, it's grieving somebody you have never met, which is an extremely strange experience. Like, um, my maternal grandfather, I was alive when he was alive, but very young. And I would get told these stories about him and be like, wow, like, this guy existed. Yeah. This is somebody that was very important to the people in my life that I don't really remember. Which is, I can definitely empathize with him on
Natalya
his dad. Yeah, he doesn't have and like, my grandfather is not like my father. He like sees everyone like with that and he ends up getting bullied for it. Yeah, by his cousin Ruby. Ruby is like the real villain here. Ruby
Mason
is the true villain. Ruby sucks. Ruby. Dad. You never see him. You never see him.
Sean Ferris
I mean, he's probably he's probably a job. Yeah, yes, they are.
Natalya
It's a birthday party.
Sean Ferris
Ruby's very, isn't a very wealthy. Well, off family.
Natalya
Yeah. And like all the people like at their birthday party later on, it's not their birthday party. It's only rubies, because Ruby doesn't want to share it anymore with them.
Mason
Which valid I gotta give. Yeah,
Sean Ferris
like, that makes sense. When you're cutting starts talking about monsters. It's a little late.
Natalya
I wouldn't want to share a birthday with this weirdo. We
Sean Ferris
were just talking about how much we're like, hey, everyone's
Natalya
pretending that I'm seven year old Ruby. Yeah. If I have my cousin who likes just talking nonsense, nonsense about a monster and scaring me. I'm like, I don't want to hang out with him. He has no dad to bully him for that.
Mason
I guess that's the perfect segue into, I would say one of my favorite scenes of the movie, the birthday party scene and everything that happens after it. Which is the most of the movie.
Natalya
Yeah. Like, there's like two parts to it. Like the first bit is like they're all inside and talking. And it's more focused on like, how Amelia doesn't feel connected to anyone. Even like, it's like all women mothers around her age. She's the only one who's seated and like, they like really, like, isolate her and bring up they bring up Oscar right? Yeah,
Mason
they do. I don't remember what they say. One person mentioned being at a, like working for a shelter for disadvantaged women. And she was like, Well, yeah, um, you know, you can swing by and then she starts talking about not being able to go to the gym. And Amelia kind of like snaps at that moment. And it's like, that must be so hard for you not being able to go to the gym. You know, we literally just talked about my dead husband. Yeah, so that must really suck for you.
Natalya
Yeah, you You remind me of the people who I work with at the shelter, and like trying to be helpful and like the most condescending relating condescending way possible. Like it. It really it makes Amelia feel way more isolated like the people who she should be around who she should fit in with. She fundamentally can't. And she fundamentally can't in a way because of her son. And it doesn't help that they don't like her son either. The same way audiences don't like Samuel, most people in the movie don't like Samuel. Amelia doesn't really like Samuel though.
Mason
She will never admit that. Yeah,
Natalya
cuz you can't. Like that's because she
Sean Ferris
loves Samuel. Yeah, but isn't really like Um,
Natalya
and she doesn't like that she has him over
Sean Ferris
Oscar. That's definitely like, the main thing she's grappling with.
Mason
Um, this is actually an aspect that I think really comes out in full force in the birthday season that I haven't really touched on. Kind of like I said in our introductory episode of which, if you have not listened, go, Listen. But after you finish this one, the use of color in this movie is wonderful because it is so ungodly drab. And during the birthday party scene, literally every single adult is wearing black. And the only pop of color is Amelia, who has a black overcoat on this like kind of faded, Pink Pink, slip dress, essentially, which I've seen some analysis of this, which is one she's wearing her grief, even if she's trying to mask it under this veneer of the perfect mother, aka the pink slip. But also, like whenever you think of a single mother Emilio's outfit is what you think of like, it is, like I said, it's faded. It's kind of frail, it is bog standard feminine. She is essentially putting on this costume of a mom, where she's just masking every single thing that is catastrophic in her life right now.
Natalya
But like the masking doesn't work that doesn't, she looks like a mess,
Mason
which is why probably from a character design standpoint, the black is on top. Like she is trying to keep it in. And this gets brought up in a later section of the same scene. She is like, well, it's not affecting me, even though it very clearly is, which is why this movie is so clever. And I like it so much.
Natalya
One thing that like, I wanted to bring about colors that I read about, apparently, like if I understood correctly, they did like minimal, if not any color correcting in this movie, where like all of like the shots like in like the colors that you get is like just what the camera picked up, like the drabness of it. That's just what Australia looks like.
Mason
Which is both like an extremely smart, like cost cutting move, but it also adds to the movie, which is why I just like so attracted to these indies or indie type movies that are low budget and still managed to do something amazing.
Sean Ferris
Definitely not low budget, but like it was.
Mason
I mean, $2,000 is kind of low budget $3,002,000
Sean Ferris
Like a very little amount for a movie.
Mason
And um, it was crowdfunded and got some Australia which meant money, I can actually briefly touch on those spoilers. There was a film company that was going to fund the movie, with the caveat that the Bappa duck was killed at the end. And Jennifer, Jennifer Kent, the director said, No, that's not the story I'm trying to tell, which is why she went for, like government grant money and public funding for this film. So she could essentially get out the story she wanted to tell which I really respect us, Australia. Absolutely.
Sean Ferris
I don't understand that. A lot of execs kind of think that people want that, honestly that like a resolution to a movie because they tend to have that influence with things.
Natalya
Yeah, like, there's so many so many times, but like whenever I've seen like notable examples of like, endings being changed to appeal to like more audiences. It's always worse. Have you guys ever seen Little Shop of Horrors and know about its to ending? Yes, I'm one of the endings and this is like the theatrical ending is them just moving to a suburb together. And the other one is like an insane world domination plan. And that one is so much more fun to watch.
Mason
I want to say that um, the original ending now the theatrical one is the one that the stage play. Good, I think as it should,
Natalya
it's like so much more effective and like, I think that people are sometimes afraid to have like a unconventional ending. And I do think that the baba duck did have an unconventional ending for a horror movie. Definitely. I did not expect it to end the way it did. But like I think that for its themes that really was the most effective thing.
Sean Ferris
So Samuel is with Ruby. Yes. In Ruby's Treehouse,
Mason
and Boo, boo Ruby Ruby in
Transcribed by https://otter.ai