Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned!  Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. Part 3 is The Babadook!

An Australian film that is expertly crafted and told, The Babadook is one hell of a scary movie. After the violent death of her husband, Amelia is left to raise her emotionally disturbed son, Samuel alone. Sam has trouble sleeping and trouble at school, which in turn makes Amelia’s life difficult. One day a book appears on her doorstep, Mister Babadook. The book scares both mother and son with its creepy rhymes and even more creepy pictures. After reading the book strange things start happening to both Amelia and Samuel. Samuel is talking to what appears to be no one or nothing. Amelia starts not being able to sleep and is seeing things that aren’t there. Or are they?

The Babadook does a great job of blurring the lines of reality, never letting the viewer settle into a comfort zone. The Babadook works so well because I truly believe two people who have seen the film can have two totally different experiences to what they just saw. Is The Babadook real? Is Amelia imagining everything? Those are questions viewers will be asking themselves watching this film.

The video on this release is first class. Anytime a movie relies heavily on blacks it can look really crushed and pixelated but The Babadook looks silky smooth. It’s a good thing too, because Mister Babadook is an almost all black entity so it’s important to not lose the effectiveness of the creature. The palate of the film is also muted but it looks fantastic.

The audio stands out as well. In any supernatural horror film, the ambiance is super important. The Babadook is aggressive when it needs to be and subtle at the right times. All dialogue comes through with as much clarity as the things that go bump in the night.

The extras on the disc are pretty stacked. There’s Jennifer Kent’s Short Film, Monster, as well as deleted scenes, plus a few featurettes on the technical side of the film. Also included is an over hour feature with cast and crew interviews. The features are informative and cool, they really give you an idea of the film making process.

The Babadook is a great film. The blu-ray is equally as great. Pick it up you won’t regret it. (Well maybe just a little. I got the first pressing which comes with a slipcover that resembles the book in the film. Including a pop-out Mister Babadook when you open it. Sorry it was limited edition, but the blu-ray still comes with all the great features.)

Film: A

Video: A-

Audio: A

Extras: A

Overall: A