Australian horror has made its mark at Frightfest over the past few years – we’ve enjoyed 100 Bloody Acres & Patrick for example.

Hoping to make waves this time around is The Babadook, the debut feature from writer/director Jennifer Kent.

Billed as ‘Repulsion meets The Gruffalo’, this tale throws us headlong into the lives of a conflicted mother, a disturbed son – oh, and a malevolent entity eager to consume them both.

That entity would be The Babadook, a nightmarish creation that pops up in a children’s book lapped up by son Sam (Daniel Henshall).

But, wouldn’t you know, ‘Mister Babadook’ may not only exist on the page, and before long both mother Amelia (Essie Davis) and so are thrown into a nightmarish battle for survival.

The trailer seems creepy enough, if containing a whiff of ‘seen this before’, so we’ll be more than happy to check this out when it gets a UK premiere at Frightfest on Saturday, August 23.

 

 

 

About The Author

Avatar photo

Simon is a journalism tutor in London, who also just happens to be a movie fanatic, with a craving for the darker side of cinema. He has written three books - on the horror films of director Bob Clark (2014), the history of the character Norman Bates (2015) and the work of British exploitation director Pete Walker (2017). He is currently working with director Richard Loncraine to explore all avenues in a bid to orchestrate the re-release of 1978 Mia Farrow chiller Full Circle