Mister Babadook: An oral history of 2014's most terrifying movie prop

The creative team behind the book at the center of the year's best horror movie pull back the curtain on Mister Babadook

The Babadook
(Image credit: (Facebook.com/TheBabadook))

"If it's in a word, or in a look, you can't get rid of the Babadook." That's the prophetic warning — delivered by, of all things, a children's pop-up book — in The Babadook, a low-budget Australian film that towers over every other horror movie released in 2014.

The Babadook follows Amelia (Essie Davis), a grieving widow with an enormously troubled young son (Noah Wiseman). One night, when Noah can't sleep, he asks her to read him a children's book he discovered on his shelf: Mister Babadook, a bizarre pop-up story about a monster who torments a mother and son after he gains access to their house:

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.