"The Babadook" - How to Write the Perfect Ghost Story | 5 Nights of Halloween Finale

Ghosts are a staple in stories and folktales. Every culture has their own interpretations of the ghost and the hauntings that follow. These are the specters from Shakespeare, la Llorona of Mexican folk lore, the ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, or modern creatures from Harry Potter and the Ghostbusters franchise. You could even include the supernatural beings of Charles Dickens on this list, or characters of internet fame like the Slender Man. Ghosts and other supernatural creatures are are embedded into the horror genre. People make reality TV shows out of hunting for ghosts.

Samuel (Noah Wiseman) prepares to take on the monster.

Ghosts are a part of humanity. They are inseparable from our cultures and folk legends. Ghosts are important. Even in our liberal, secular western world that has moved on from the superstitious past, the ghost is still an important role in our lives. Enter, The Babadook.

As per usual, spoilers ahead.

The Babadook is a 2014 Australian horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent. The film tells the story of mother Amelia, still grieving the loss of her husband, and her son, Samuel, who, after reading a disturbing children's book one night, are haunted by an entity called the Babadook.

The Babadook is the perfect ghost story. It encapsulates everything that the idea of the ghost represents: the unknown, the connection to the past - a little piece of a previous life still lingering in our own. But most importantly, they thrive off of fear.

The Babadook isn't just any old ghost. This creature doesn't attack its victims and doesn't have some insane backstory to explain the hauntings. No, this one has a very deep and personal connection to our protagonist. The creature holds onto Amelia and Samuel with an unrelenting grip and its shadow just grows. But maybe the creature is all just in Amelia's head. Maybe it's a part of her psyche.

Essie Davis in a promotional still for the film.

Amelia's emotional arc in the film seems eerily familiar to any one of us who's been through the loss of a family member or friend - Amelia moves on the five stages of grief and the Babadook is the grief that keeps her moving. Now as previously mentioned, Amelia's husband died about six years before the events of the film. She still hasn't gotten over this as her life with her son has kept her distracted from the monster of her grief growing in the corner of her mind.

The monster in the film is presented as a shape shifting, black figure. While you can guess what's there, you never fully understand it. Isn't that the perfect metaphor for grief? It is this darkness in the mind that grows and changes, but still it lingers and, no matter how hard you try, you can't escape the Babadook.

And the conclusion that film comes to provides such a healthy idea of how to move on from grief. By the end of the film, Amelia has confronted the fear around her dead husband and has taken the upper hand. In the film's final scene, Amelia goes downstairs in her come to reveal the Babadook lurking in the corner. She feeds it food and scolds it when it starts to act up. Director Jennifer Kent realizes that grief is not something people just move on from. The memory of the person lost and the pain that brings will always remain.

The Babadook covers two of the main ideas in ghost stories extremely well. First, the connection to the past, and second, the idea of the unknown. But there is one more area that is very important to this film and ghost stories in general that we need to talk about: fear.

The haunted children's book depicting the eponymous monster.

The Babadook reminds me of David Lowery's 2017 film A Ghost Story. It too is an arts-y drama about married love, the loss of a husband, and the pain that follows. While A Ghost Story and many other modern artistic horror film understand the first two elements of ghost story writing, they don't know how to make anything actually scary, which ruins so much of the point of a ghost story. The Babadook never falls prey to this.

From the opening, The Babadook terrifies the viewers. Its twisted cinematography, strange behaviors from the characters, and dark setting put the audience on edge. Kent builds the tension through Samuel's night terrors in the first act, to the person like forms Amelia begins to say, to the final, direct confrontation with the monster. If you miss the fear from a ghostly tale, it becomes so very boring. This film realizes that and so from the first tragic frame, the audience is on the edge of their seat.

With it's supernatural elements and frightening atmosphere, The Babadook serves as an excellent ghost story for the modern age. It takes what was done in the past with folk tales of supernatural creatures, and adapts it for a modern audience. The film makes us take a step back and look for the Babadook in our own lives, yet leaves us terrified of it at the same time. The Babadook is the perfect ghost story.



This has been the 5 Night of Halloween. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more.



The Babadook quick facts
Written and Directed by: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essie Davis & Noah Wiseman
Running time: 94 minutes
Released: May 22nd, 2014