David Skal states in his article, “It’s Alive, I’m Afraid” that monsters are all born in some way whether they are put together piece by piece or created by a chemical ingested by women, or by Satan himself. Throughout the history of monster movies, monsters went from physically deformed humans to humans with brain deformities. From there, the monsters were conceived by Satan. Next, came monsters that were created by humans and creatures from outer space. Skal contends that monster movies comment on reproductive rights, and the scientific involvement in the reproductive process. The abnormalities that were occuring in real life made their way into the movie theaters. The thought that the people were abnormal or freaks did not like that they were being shown in the movies. A whole bunch of monster movies regarding monster babies were produced in the 70s. The movie Alien in 1979 is a combination of monsters and science fiction because the baby came from outer space.
In the horror film The Babadook, the monster appears to be some sort of Satanic of the child, the mother, and the house. It appears the strongest connection of The Babadook is Rosemary’s Baby. The mother in Rosemary’s Baby has a nightmare in which she is raped by a demonic creature. The mother in The Babadook appears to have strange dreams to where it looks like she is floating above the bed. In Rosemary’s Baby the mother gives birth to a son of satan, she accepts him as her own. In The Babadook, even though Samuel appears to be possessed, the mother tries to do normal mother/son activities. For example, they read stories together, go to playgrounds, and plan birthday parties. Unfortunately, none of these “normal” activities go well because of Samuel’s behavior problems. In the article “It’s Alive, I’m Afraid” by David Skal, he discusses The Exorcist, another movie about Satanic possession. He describes it as, “A cautionary tale of a beleaguered single mother who believes she can endure no more” (pg 294). Similarly, the mother figure in The Babadook begs the doctor for tranquilisers for her son. This occurs after he has a seizure after very much what looks like a demonic possession.
Source: IFC Midnight, 2014, The Babadook
(Samuel in what it seems like being possessed by the babadook)
She needs Samuel to calm down because she can no longer put up with what is causing his poor behavior and outbursts. Skal states that monstrous and horrific children were used often in many popular fiction books in the 1980s. Often, the children were victims of abuse from their mothers. Throughout the movie, Samulels mother becomes abusive towards him about the idea that Samuel is having this possesion called the babadook. Samuel is starting to blame everything that goes wrong in the household and outside of it on the babadook. Samuel’s mother becomes abusive by threatening him with a knife and tells him that “nothing is coming in here tonight” referring to the possessed “babadook” that Samuel is so worried about.
Source: IFC Midnight, 2014, The Babadook
(Amelia threatening Samuel about the babadook possession)
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