Reviews: "V/H/S: Viral," "A Good Marriage," "Tusk" and "The Babadook"

12/6/2014

I got my coffee handy, and I check out the latest V/H/S movie, Stephen King's A Good Marriage, the Kevin Smith movie Tusk, plus the Australian horror film The Babadook!

115 Comments

Blip

12/6/2014 09:21:25 am

I'm really sorry.

Blip sucks

12/6/2014 09:22:43 am

Fuck you.

Blip

12/6/2014 09:24:18 am

Fuck me.

Buffalo Bill

12/6/2014 05:17:39 pm

Would you fuck me?
I would fuck me?
I would fuck me so hard!

Blip jr.

12/6/2014 10:11:49 am

We'll get if right next time, dad!

Blip

12/6/2014 12:15:29 pm

I hope so, son. I hope so.

Youtube

12/6/2014 02:21:02 pm

No, Blip Jr., I am your father.

Blip Jr.

12/6/2014 04:26:54 pm

Nooooo!

Flash Player

12/8/2014 10:12:07 pm

The important thing is that you tried.

KingMoron

12/6/2014 10:26:09 am

Yeah, fuck Blip. It's not like the videos have to fucking process or anything like that

QueenCunt

12/6/2014 04:28:43 pm

That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

Ironwolf

12/6/2014 11:30:01 am

I kinda like the VHS movies, and by that I mean yeah parts of them. VHS just had the haunted house segment I liked, VHS 2 had the cult and the alien abduction thing going for it for me (scared to death of grey aliens honestly). However yes, stop calling it VHS and stop giving some bullshit wrap around segment. It would make so much more sense if it was a series called Viral and revolve around each segment being either a found footage thing or a edited together "real video" of a incident.

Here is what you do it's called viral and the film is about 4 friends in a Skype chat or a hangout app thing, and like one of them talks about how he found this weird video online. He sends the link, they all watch it and then as the segments/videos go on, just some weird shit happens between the people in the call. There in 2 minutes I fixed one of the stupidest problems with this series. Granted everyone can have their opinion of if they like the films are not, but yeah the title needs to change.

Conghaille

12/6/2014 11:44:39 am

Babadook. I agree with you that the performances were great and the tone and production style and quality are great. I also agree that the result is frightening and disturbing. I do have a serious problem with it, and I'm going to agree with Ebert on this point (as he is the first I'd heard to put the idea forth) which is that putting kids and pets in jeopardy is the laziest of writing. Since we are humans with empathy and are hard-wired to fear for the safety of a child or an innocent animal, we are immediately arm-twisted into being invested, whereas a quality screenwriter would use character development to create a character that we know more than superficial things about, that cause us to care, and ultimately become invested in the story.

Brad

12/6/2014 12:01:46 pm

HIGHLY disagree with that. Even Ebert gave 3 1/2 stars to The Orphan, and I seriously doubt he was hating the movie until the twist, and even then it still had kids in danger. Also, the movie is about a children's book that haunts both a child and his mother....a little hard to do that without at some point putting a kid in danger. The movie has a lot of similaries to The Shining (a movie that Ebert put in his Great Movies section).

This film was all about character development, whether it's making all of them sympathetic in their own ways, or with layers and layers or trauma, guilt, and loneliness. This is not "Beware Children at Play" or "The Good Son." Ebert may have said that, but even he and Siskel would agree that several movies have done that right. It sounds like you liked everything about the movie except that it had a kid in danger, which was pretty important to the story and not exploitive.

Conghaille

12/6/2014 12:14:15 pm

I'm excited that I HIGHLY have your attention. :-)

There is one point that we aren't connecting on, and that is that I think the movie has a lot of fine qualities, but the implications of those character decisions took me out of the movie. In your own review you joked that as soon as you saw the dog you knew it was a matter of time. Me too. Because it's cheap and predictable. Every scene with the dog. Especially after we see the premonition in the book, instead of enjoying the natural flow of the film it's the same old horror trope of "is he gonna get it now? No, sych! This time? No but it's coming...etc." The thing is that all of that was unnecessary except for a cheap mechanism for heightening the gravity of the threat.

As for the child thing, I'd say consider Alien and Aliens. I'd say both fantastic, but very different films. Despite Newt being in danger constantly, I don't think I'd be in the minority when I suggest that Alien is far more engaging and the jeopardy is much more real, and I think the reason includes that fact that with well written adult characters we care about them because we come to know them, not because our midbrain is freaking out about something with big eyes.

I appreciate your response Brad, I'm a fan since the youtube days and am glad you're doing well with you work. Thanks for the discussion!

Brad

12/6/2014 12:29:23 pm

I commented on the dog simply because I was making a joke about how I usually am like that when an animal pops up in a movie, not because I thought it was cheap and predictable. In this movie's case, I thought it worked in that 1: it was forshadowed from The Babadook book, same with a part in the book showing Essie Davis getting her throat cut. I wasn't watching it thinking it was predictable, I was watching it wondering if all of the premonitions would come true, because the dog wasn't the only one. And when the dog got it, it made it more suspenseful wondering if everything else in the book would also come true. Also, 2: it showed just how evil it was making Essie Davis. And as for the kid, much like The Shining, it would be absolutely impossible to do this film without the kid being in danger.

I don't have a problem with kids being in danger in films, but even if I did, a movie wouldn't be bad or flawed simply because it has a kid in danger. Not even Ebert thought that way. It's not what the movie is about, but how it's about it, which is another thing Ebert said. It's scary when the kid is in danger because he is a fully fleshed out character, not because the movie is being cheap, but because there's genuine suspense and creep factor.

Conhaille

12/6/2014 12:38:40 pm

Just a couple quick clarifications and then I'll let it go. First, the only reason I mentioned Ebert is because that was the source of the observation. I could have left him out, but the nature of my work has me conditioned to cite somebody if it isn't my observation, theory, etc.

Second, I wouldn't have brought it up at all if I thought it worked for me. I'm not sitting around looking for opportunities to apply this criticism, but when I see an otherwise great film and I get yanked out of it repeatedly because of it. I notice it.

Thanks again. Have a great night!

Christopher

12/6/2014 12:50:54 pm

I'm with Brad here. You call it an "otherwise great film," and yet the movie, given its plotline, would absolutely not exist without the kid being in danger.

Conghaille

12/6/2014 01:01:23 pm

Christopher, all I can say is, I agree, if there is a problem with the script, fixing it would require changing the script. I look at it two ways. One is that it could just as easily been made with a teenager or an adult haunted by a childhood memory. There are a plethora of fine films that could have featured that great performance of slipping into madness. Else, maybe this movie shouldn't exist. That actress might have turned in that dynamite performance in a better film. Nobody can say.

Michael

12/13/2014 04:13:43 am

Why in god's name would you watch this movie if you were already pre-determined to knock if for having a kid in danger? Not even Ebert is this shallow. Making the kid a teenager would have completely changed the entire film and it's impact , rendering it completely senseless.

If he were a teenager, why would the book wait that long to do some F-up stuff. Not to mention we would have sacrificed the kid's fantastic performance. It's about coping and moving on with life, and in the kid's life, facing growing up without a father. We would have lost the sheer sense of menace, because a teenager is way more likely to have overpowered the mother when she goes crazy, so that wouldn't have made sense, and it wouldn't have been as impactful when he actually does stand up to her in the end; same with Danny Torrence in The Shining, something else that would have lost most of it's meaning if the kid was a teenager.

Also, the father's death is on a lot of their minds, because it's a lot more recent of a tragedy than if the kid was a teen, and just because the character is a kid doesn't mean the audience automatically feels sympathy for them. You still need fantastic acting and a great script. As Brad even said in the review, one wrong performance beat and this kid would have been completely annoying and we would have wanted to see him perish, which is the case with many many MANY bad child actors in movies. I don't recall critics of The Phantom Menace feeling for Anakin in danger automatically because he was a kid, in fact, most people detested that character.

You would have ruined a perfectly good movie just because kids are apparently sacred in movies to you, thus ruining the film for everyone else.

Jake

12/6/2014 03:34:56 pm

The problem I have with your criticism is that you seem to be judging the kid as a one dimensional character whose only around to get harmed, when in fact he has a lot of layers to him. He misses his father so he acts out which causes stress to him mom. He loves his mom, so he often feels bad about his actions after the fact. When the babadook threatens him and his mother it's that mother-son bond that causes him to protect her, even when she is trying to kill him. Making a child 3 dimensional is no small task and definitely not lazy. Nor is putting the child at risk lazy. I just don't understand where you are coming from on this...

Conghaille

12/6/2014 10:15:12 pm

Hi Jake,

I agree with you that what you described is the kid's story arc. I believe that what you describe as the milestones of his progression are mostly told to us by the mother and to a lesser agree other adults, especially in the first act. What we see throughout the film is a kid who is acting out. Knowing the impact of his behavior is dependent almost exclusively on the portrayals by the adults, especially his mom. Once the Babdook comes into play the boy is afraid and protective. I agree that for a child, it's done pretty well. I just didn't think the performance was very good, and I think the screenwriter used a crutch to force immediate emotional investment instead of developing characters. Now it may be that the first act of the film soured my impression for the rest. This is the kind of film that, for me, though I recognize it has many good qualities, I would,probably not watch it again. Interstellar was the same way for me. If I do, I'll see if maybe the use and performance of the child actor did improve later in the film, and if I liked it better.

Thanks for the thoughts Jake. Aren't opinions fun!

Tim

12/9/2014 07:30:18 am

This makes so little sense to me. You comment later that your problem with the movie is actually that the child's performance isn't very good (In your opinion), so why not just say that? Because here, it sounds like you're saying that if a film's plot involves a child being in danger, that's automatically a flaw, because people will definitely be scared for the child, making it lazy writing. So, to you, every movie with a child who is in danger could have been improved by completely re-writing a movie so that character was an adult.
If putting a child in danger, no matter how elegantly it's done or how integral to story it is, is by definition lazy writing because it's guaranteed to get a reaction out of the audience, then so is everything else that is put in a movie to get a reaction out of an audience. Like relatable characters, conflict, dialog in an existing language, a plot that makes sense, and showing the film to people.

Michael

12/13/2014 04:15:28 am

Not to mention I can think of a hell of a lot of movies that are ruined by bad child actors and bad child characters. That's a far cry from "we automatically feel sympathy for kids in movies!"

Lord of garbage

12/11/2014 04:44:29 pm

Aren't opinions fun?

Fuck you.

JayRam

12/6/2014 12:11:06 pm

I should definitely see The Babadook again; I think I saw it at, like, 3 in the afternoon in my apartment, so maybe the setting wasn't right. But that's not to say It didn't creep me out at parts. Also, movies like this deserve a second viewing regardless.

As for Tusk: I think the first half of the movie is solid; it's only when the walrus suit is shown and Depp's character shows up that the shift in tone is a little jarring. It's not a great movie, but you have to at least commend Kevin--like you said--for at least trying to produce something that isn't a remake/reboot or sequel.

demonknight

12/6/2014 12:16:22 pm

About Tusk's ending...
The idea Kevin Smith was trying to get across was that Wallace went ferrel and couldn't go back. In his own mind, he was now a walrus. (I only know this because I have listened to the podcast on which the film was based for several times).

It also has two sequels coming. Yoga Hosers, which comes out next year, stars Depp as his character again and his and Kevin's daughters playing those convenince store girls. Also, Parks, Osment, Long, and Rodriguez will play new roles, ala the Askewniverse. Tony Hale and Natasha Lyonne will also appear.
After that is Moose Jaws, which is just what the title suggests.

Timo

12/6/2014 01:01:20 pm

I pick option "Kevin Smith should not write while on drugs". He wrote a Batman miniseries (or rather the first half of one) on pot, and it's fucking terrible.

Lady Stardust

12/6/2014 01:13:17 pm

Great timing with this video Brad! I just watched Tusk and i was wondering when you were gonna get the chance to watch it.

President Lloyd for President

12/6/2014 01:42:03 pm

Nice... Shot on Shitteo is still being worked on. Been waiting for an update.

Blake

12/6/2014 02:29:39 pm

Awww hi Lloyd.

PorchMonkey4Life

12/6/2014 02:44:51 pm

Hey, Brad. I've always wondered, what do you think of Clerks 2? Personally, I think it's Smith's best movie and is my favorite movie of all time, but I totally see why others feel like the first Clerks is better. Any thoughts?

LloydFan

12/6/2014 03:29:36 pm

I'm also curious how Brad would rank the Smith films.
Personally, Chasing Amy is one of my favorite movies so I would rate that first.
Then Clerks and Mallrats (despite its flaws) are tied for me.
Then I would put Clerks 2.

Ungray Brad

12/6/2014 04:34:55 pm

Clerks
Dogma
Chasing Amy
Jay and Silent Bob Stike Back
Mallrats
Clerks 2
Zack and Miri make a porno
Jersey Girl
Red State
Tusk

Cop Out

However, most of these on almost on par with each other for the most part.

His live lectures are better than all his films. Seriously, watch those even if you dislike Kevin Smith

Isaac

12/8/2014 05:00:49 pm

In the world of Kevin movies, Cop Out is probably the worst.
Be it the asshole Bruce Willis who made production awful, the fact he never wrote it and only directed, or the fact that the writer didn't write a very good movie.

Nick Michalak

12/6/2014 03:19:20 pm

I just checked, and no Chicago theatres carrying The Babdook. Can't find any suburban ones, either. I might've gone to see it if it had, but I did finally see "Birdman" tonight and it was superbly EXCELLENT! Well worth a 35 minute drive.

I haven't seen a Kevin Smith film since Clerks 2. I'm willing to give Tusk a try if I can get my hands on it before the month is over. Otherwise, I'm not going to pine over it. I was attracted to the crazy concept, but I wasn't motivated to see it theatrically. To be honest, a lot of your reviews, because you're so passionate, really tend to be a tipping point in many cases such as Pacific Rim, The Conjuring, and Birdman. All three I really enjoyed.

Mother

12/6/2014 05:32:09 pm

BRAD

YO BRAD

Yo bro

How have you not reviewed The Grumpy Cat Christmas Special on lifetime yet?

like 3 Saving Christmas reviews, a review about nothing, and now this and yet the elephant in the room isn't even getting a mention?

Bro, seriously. Is it an upcoming Snobisode or something? Whats up here?

Dingo Boy

12/6/2014 07:07:33 pm

I agree regarding Tusk, mostly. Though i liked the movie.
Just wanted to mention that the worst part of it, for me, was the editing.
I'm not talking about a few scenes that should have been trimmed (i agree), but some moments just didn't work right!
The first one being when Wallace goes from his car to the Parks' house. There is a moment when the score and the visual are very badly synced, the score has a sudden pause, but the visual is late to cut to black for a couple seconds. That was just like if Smith didn't have enough time to edit properly.
Second moment would be when Wallace/Walrus is trying to swim and is drowning, but the camera is switching to his pov. it's very confusing. when it's not pov - he's drowning, pov - not drowning. and it went on for a whole minute.
There were more simple editing mistakes i noticed, but i can't remember now, and this comment is too long already.

The Hand of Onan

12/6/2014 08:36:51 pm

Tusk reminded me Roald Dahl style weirdness rather than the Human Centipede. I liked it and I was not baked.
The Babadook, Maybe. I'm just getting old but I watched and I ended up distracted by the interior design of the house. Black and shades of greyish purple look real classy. The acting was good. It was just a little too subtle and vague for me, like Val Lewton crossed with We Need Talk about Kevin. I thought the babadook monster was the dead husband and the mother and son had gone mad because they were forced to idealise an abusive realationship with an evil spouse/father figure to save face in public. That maybe they had even killed him and buried him in the cellar.

CommanderZx2

12/6/2014 08:38:58 pm

Hey Brad, when are you going to do the Worst films of 2014? Are there any upcoming awful Xmas movies you're waiting for first?

Not Brad

12/7/2014 03:02:38 am

His 2013 list wasn't released until the end of January (2014), so he'll probably wait a month or so after the year is over.

b-b-b-b-b-

12/6/2014 11:44:53 pm

B-b-but mr snob, this babadook too scary!

Michael Tannock

12/7/2014 12:18:24 am

That Nothing! video had me thinking: Have you seen the movie "nothing" from 2003?

Brent Lonkey link

12/7/2014 01:12:53 am

I loved tusk. I read the script a while back and was really excited to finally see the final product. besides the unlikeable characters, I really enjoyed it.

The Babadook I thought was pretty overhyped. I didn't find anything about it creepy or scary. the only thing that had some kind of effect was when you hear him say his name.

honestly, you wanna see a great horror film that just came out, check out Treehouse. best horror film of the year.

and don't forget the new nic cage film Dying of the Light. which is... pretty bad.

The Raggedyman

12/7/2014 01:21:40 am

Lloyd trying to turn Brad into walrus...I would watch that

brynden rivers

12/7/2014 01:32:30 am

is that the only shirt you own, brad?

Marc

12/7/2014 01:42:58 am

One of the best things about The Babadook that caught my attention was that it was directed by a woman, written by a woman, and produced by women. That is SO damn huge! Granted, the writer and director are the same person, but still that is something VERY rare in films, let alone a genre like horror. The movie in it's subject matter reflects a unique point of view of motherhood that many men and outsiders wouldn't consider before, and because of this team of very talented women, and a stunning performance by the lead actress, we're all given a dark allegory to see. That of the struggling single mother and the troubled child and how they deal with each other and the world.

The movie also touches on a subject that is very taboo in not only our American culture but the world over; that being a mother can sometimes, and often, be difficult and that even the sweetest of mothers can have very dark thoughts about their child or children. In interviews the writer/director has stated that she's not suggesting that it's OK to kill or abuse your children because you're angry with them, but it's the fact that you DO get angry with them and CAN have these thoughts. No one likes to talk about it or address it, though. I can't imagine the stress and depression some women must go through at times, especially if they're solely raising their kid(s) themselves and trying to make ends meet.

There in lies also the biggest power of the Babadook. The more you deny it, the stronger it becomes. Which is a perfect analogy of the wrong way to deal with mental and emotional trauma and illness. Saying that you're alright and not acknowledging that there is a problem and not trying to seek help to deal with it in a healthy way ONLY MAKES IT STRONGER. By the end of the movie, the mother realizes that this is a part of her, like a mental illness such as depression/bipolar disorder/PTSD, and that it will ALWAYS be a part of her. You can't make it go away, but you can make it MANAGEABLE and not be terrified of it and let it rule your life by dealing with it and taking away it's power over you.

It's the best damn movie I've seen in a long time. It played in theaters only TWICE in Chicago as part of the International Chicago Film Festival, but I heard about it only AFTER the festival had ended. I would have LOVED to have seen this on a big screen, but it appears that it is playing in theaters only on the coasts. Mores the pity, because this is a lovely dark film AND I WANT MY OWN COPY OF THAT BOOK!

Inquisitor

12/10/2014 08:36:24 pm

Ok, I understand that it was written, directed, produced, and staring a woman, but why does that need to be an issue? I know that the movie making industry can be a ‘boys’ club’ but I think that a piece of art should hold under the scrutiny of its own merit, not the gender, race, or nationality of the person who made it.

Anyway…

First off, I’d like to note that I did exactly as Brad suggested and stopped his review to watch The Babadook before continuing. I absolutely loved the movie. Thought it built great suspense, had amazing pacing, the acting was top notch, and the effects were awe inspiring. Now to the only problem I had with it. I thought making the Babadook being an actual creature (The last maybe 30 minutes) seemed to deaden the true grit and drama of this woman snapping under the pressure of the tragedy that consumed her life. As far as her ‘letting the Babadook in’ went I thought it was brilliant. That bit made it seem like the ‘supernatural’ was seeping like a poison and making her acting on impulses that were barely under control. If it were a surreal situation about her perception being jaded and manipulated by her cracked psyche I would have said it was a favorite and instant classic. I strove like hell to hold that interpretation of the movie, up until I couldn’t deny it anymore with the paranormal activity-esque wire pulls. I think that this movie, as it is, could be cut to make it poignant, and extremely powerful statement of the dismissal of mental health issues for people who are truly suffering. That is my only problem with the ending.

Richard

12/7/2014 02:17:04 am

Sorry but in my opinion Babadook was a SERIOUS LET DOWN!

The performances were great but, the camera work literally non existent, the lighting was piss poor (you could tell it was lit with artificial lights), the effects were seriously laughable. The music was bland, and the sound effects were just generic sound effects and not creepy at all.

This movie got some serious hype and buzz and some amazing reviews.... why? Am I missing something because apart from the great acting by the mom and son the rest of this movie was extremely poor.

It is as if the writer just tried to makeup his own version of the Slenderman and totally failed in every aspect but got lucky with two great actors.

Makes me seriously wonder how much they paid William Friedkin for that quote.

The Hand of Onan

12/7/2014 04:55:54 am

Dud,
Your massively overstating your argument. The lighting was done to make it look artificial like the color scheme in the Babadook illustrations as were the effects. And William Friedkin is in ihis 70s not some youngster hyping up a film. It's a small well put together Australian movie that got good word of mouth not some huge mega bucks being hyped to death.

Barry The Master Of Sandwich

12/7/2014 07:27:24 am

Man, between what you and Film Brain said about Babadook, I really want to see it.

Brian Moore

12/7/2014 07:31:56 am

Lloyd!

Miguel

12/7/2014 07:56:14 am

Brad, you should check out Cold in July and The Guest when you have a chance. They're both 80s style movies with some great synth music that rival Drive's soundtrack.

Jraptor

12/7/2014 08:34:49 am

I think it dragged a bit when the detective and psycho are talking on the porch, near the end.
I think the end was a bit off...I expected them to film him at the end and put it on the internet, or have him still hosting the show in the costume as a "walrus", maybe barking and clapping his flippers at the jokes, something clever like that. That ending would have fit better with the dark humor.

Jraptor

12/8/2014 04:57:32 am

The comment above was about Tusk (obviously).
I watched the Babadook and didn't like it much. I had high hopes after your review but I just couldn't buy the kid actor. If the plot is going to revolve around the kid, you have to have a very strong actor (like the kid in 6th Sense). This kiddo just couldn't pull it off, at least for me.
One you didn't mention, that really creeped me out and had a very claustrophobic and terrifing vibe was As Above, So Below. You may have seen it and I just missed the review, but if you haven't seen it, give it a watch. Terrifying stuff there, as well as intellectual curiosity.

Bulliwyf

12/7/2014 09:23:49 am

In the last 5 minutes of Bobadook there was a real, "Its a trap. Get an axe moment." Or am I the only one who hears Army of Darkness clips while watching other movies?

SUPERSOUP

12/7/2014 01:47:59 pm

Clone Dago actually pissed me off WAY more than the others. Those were just garbage, particularly the awful skate video thing. Clone Dago had the opportunity to be genuinely unsettling and beautiful, with the horrors of the parallel universe presented with a sort of banality and normalcy that made them very disturbing.

And then the Satanist zeppelin and the muppet dicks showed up. Also, didn't the wife of the dago from our universe get clued in that it hadn't been him that had raped her by the presence of his fucking MASSIVE MONSTROUS MUPPET PENIS? I mean, presumably our dago has a normal penis, probably uncircumcised, but not a muppet monster, and presumably his wife has seen it a few times. It's that segment that made me dislike this more than the other two movies.

John

12/7/2014 02:01:16 pm

Video

Horror

Segments ?

Is that what it stands for ?

Leviathan

12/7/2014 03:49:08 pm

I kinda like the VHS movies as a guilty pleasure. I'm from a different generation than Brad so the whole non vhs footage on a vhs format I will admit is kinda lazy but it doesn't bother me too bad. I tend to have a better time with these movies expecting them to be kinda dumb and campy. I also liked a lot of stuff from the first two that he didn't. I actually kinda liked the Ti West segment from the first one just for the scene where the killer films themselves caressing the woman's thigh with a switchblade. I got really creeped out by that. I wasn't the best segment but it was good short filler. I also thought it was funny when the "tape" ends and the guy is just like "Wait what the fuck did I just watch?".

SindustriesLtd

12/8/2014 12:33:28 am

so what IS the status on Shot on Shitteo?

12/8/2014 03:47:59 am

Brad there was a 4th story for V/H/S called Gorgeous Vortex available only for blu-ray about a serial killer.

I liked the first V/H/S due to the Tuesday the 17th and the Haunted House stories.

Da Ca$hman

12/8/2014 04:33:22 am

Movie idea: "Antichrist Stripper From Brazil (1965)" (2015)

Karshna

12/8/2014 05:00:53 am

Hey Brad,
incidentally, was one of those people you mentioned that you follow that reviewed Babadook Korey Coleman of former Spill, now Double Toasted? Cause you two are the only online reviewers i follow that saw and reviewed it

Craig

12/8/2014 05:14:22 am

Watching you talk about A Good Marriage makes me want to watch Manhunter again cause I was like "Wait... Stephen Lang was in it?" I'm pissed I forgot that since I love Manhunter and watched it not too long ago. I forgot I heard about The Babadook months ago from a youtube channel I watched but the guy started a new one so it's probably the older channel and he liked it so ill give that and A Good Marriage a watch, maybe Tusk if I can find some pot beforehand.

I'm also curious who you think has given the best Will Graham performance out of the three actors who have done so?

12/8/2014 07:06:54 am

My theory on The Babadook is that the mother—it is mentioned she's an author of children's books who has gotten serious writersblock since her husband's death—has written the pop-up book herselfNone of it is real, but the mother is not coping well at all and is having troubles keeping reality and her own fantasies separated. The psychological troubles the kid is suffering from are the result of him seeing his mother go crazy, and he's actually the more mentally stable one.

Gaz

12/8/2014 07:57:02 am

A Good Marriage is a very enjoyable novella. The film? Yeah... it doesn't look that great.

Gaz

12/8/2014 08:11:55 am

... but your review makes it sound like it could be worth checking out. Hell, it wouldn't be the first time trailers have been wrong.

I told the Wife about the novella and she loved the idea, but isn't a big reader. So perhaps a rental is in order, the satisfy my curiosity and her desire to watch the story pan out.

NancysNightmare

12/8/2014 04:02:04 pm

The scene involving the mother strangling the dog and the noises it made upset my own dog. He jumped out of the chair and ran off to bed but not before giving me this look like, "The fuck are you watching!?" That's some good cinema.

And while I think I liked it SLIGHTLY less than you did Brad this was definitely the only horror movie I've watched all year where I had to cover my eyes because I could not handle seeing the Babadook come out of the shadows. It was highly effective, there was a little bit of Elm Street, a little bit of Evil Dead camera movements, and a little Shining, all used to make this great movie.

As far as the ending goes, I walked away rather optimistic in that the mother finally had some form of closure and was able to manifest her own coping mechanism. Maybe she can't handle it, maybe not, but I thought it was a rather sweet ending.

Isaac

12/8/2014 05:04:14 pm

Tusk was great for me. I'm not sure if it's because Kevin really threw in the "Smodco Universe" that it kept me busy finding all the hints to the podcasts while enjoying the story that fans helped created, watched grow, and finally saw a product out of.
Not his best movie, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Gaz

12/9/2014 01:48:27 am

Tusk is like the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name. Not to everyone's taste, but enjoyable enough if you're stoned.

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12/9/2014 04:12:20 am

I actually paused and watched The Babadook. And damn, I usually agree with you on most of the movies... But I hated this movie. For the exact reason you've mentioned. The kid was annoying AS SHIT.

I was sympathising with Essie Davis' character a lot, and the kid just came off as annoying, loud and just plain spoiled.

All this was crammed into beginning of the movie and made him very unlikable, when Essie Davis did her best to keep the family together given she's a single mother.

Maybe because I was watching it in the headphones, but the kid was unbearable, and from that point the whole movie fell apart for me.

The rest of the movie I spent hoping for that kid to get eaten by the ghost, or choked to death by Essie Davis; and thinking how the title of the movie reminds me of Marmaduke.

Sorry, Brad. Didn't like it this time. :(

Spelunker

12/18/2014 03:53:40 pm

Definitely have to agree with you on the kid. He was what kept The Babadook from being a really great movie to me. Yes, the performance of the mom was really good, and it had some effectively creepy moments, but Jesus Christ that kid just annoyed the piss out of me in every scene he was in, except for the ending I suppose. If he had some actual kind of mental or behavioral disorder, then maybe his story would have been more sympathetic, but most of the time it seemed like he was just being a selfish, spoiled little shit. I've got no sympathy for him at all.

Anders

12/9/2014 04:53:45 am

Man, the "Home Alone" sequels went to a really dark place.

Rhody

12/9/2014 08:01:03 am

You had to re write a cameo because your laptop was being a dick?

Let me guess... it's Kalkavan Video.

Anders

12/9/2014 09:12:52 pm

The Babadook is a very good horror movie, but it's not exceptional. After this, I went peacefully to sleep an hour later. After watching "the Ring" (Japanese original), I couldn't sleep for two nights. THAT's a great horror movie.

Still, it's very good.

Richard

12/10/2014 02:54:45 am

Has Brad ever talked about possibly putting videos like this on YouTube? I like watching this sort of content on devices other than my computer and the Blip player just won’t load on those.

Anders

12/10/2014 04:13:28 am

I think Brad has had problems with YouTube in the past. We call it "The Grizzly Event".

Isaac

12/10/2014 04:15:01 pm

Grizzly happened when he had his own site didn't it? It was Nail-gun Massacre that made him finally switch from doing anything on youtube.

Rob

12/10/2014 07:00:50 am

In the novella of A Good Marriage, the husband's neck and back are broken, which explains why he doesn't over power her.

Paul D.

12/10/2014 02:59:01 pm

I was highly disappointed that the Babadook didn't come here to STL, Brad, even before I saw it. Afterwards ten times more so.

LOVED it. While I viewed the ending in the more literal sense at first, your interpretation of it also floated through my head right near the end. It was almost...too happy and perfect, and that was terrifying in and of itself.

The basement scene at the very end was unnecessary, IMO, but again makes a lot more sense when you interpret it as her containing her anxiety/stress than a literal monster.

Great, great film.

wereturkey

12/11/2014 01:16:09 am

I will be very disappointed if The Babadook becomes popular without spawning a porno spoof called "The Badonk-a-donk".

Nick Michalak

12/14/2014 03:37:50 pm

WHEW! Just finished watching "The Babadook." My heart feels like it needs another hour to recover from the choked up fright. Man oh man. I needed a scary horror film this year, and yeah, that did the trick.

Thomas c Plummer

12/17/2014 02:34:12 am

Funnily enough, there appears to be showings of Babadook at the chase park cine in St Louis....

Subiekent

12/18/2014 11:47:57 am

I kinda liked VHS: Viral but I also kind of was stoned so...

That third part both the most interesting and worst shot of the whole film for me. Most interesting because I love me some Blind Dead but interesting doesn't equal good automatically. When it ended I turned to my friend and said the following: "So like we just killed upwards of 20 people on camera, let's tell no one and flee the country." We laughed. The rest of it was pretty much okay with some good ideas throughout but poor execution plagued almost every short and the linking plot wasn't well defined or overly interesting. I'd say it is an okay waste of 80 minutes and at the end of the day that is really what movies are; an entertaining time sink. Entertainment through making bad jokes with a couple friends is just as valid as transcendent artistic merit.

Anonymous

1/15/2015 03:13:15 pm

The Babadook on both a performance and technical level was great. The thing is that for personal reasons I will never watch it again. Let's put it this way, Brad gets a special sort of seething emotion when he sees animals harmed in a film, that is just a limit of his. Mine is child abuse, especially when a mother does it. So keep that in mind if you have an issue with watching that or you had some sort of bad memories. Essie Davis's performance was a little too realistic and brought back some really bad memories. If you don't have that issue than the movie is phenomenal, creepy, and all the performances are great. Just if you have a past with abuse, take a second to consider if you want to watch this movie.

big_no_no

4/10/2015 07:08:57 am

I really wanted to like The Babadook after the high praised I heard here (I did stop watching the review before the spoilers), but I honestly thought that movie was awful. I mean, there's a huge difference between being scared and being extremely annoyed. I constantly wanted the movie to end, and I never want to watch it again, but probably not for the reasons the creators would have intended. It's your run-of-the-mill haunted house affair story-wise, with some good effects, sure, but also an extremely annoying kid and - spoiler - A DOG GETTING HIS FUCKING NECK SNAPPED IN HALF.

So yeah, fuck this movie. And yeah, I get that it was about the mother descending into dementia. I got that five minutes in. That didn't help keep the movie going for another 85 minutes.

Trisha

4/21/2015 07:58:38 pm

Haha I love when you go into the Snob voice every once in a while!! Tusk fucked with my brain, it was horrifying the ending ruined it for me! I loved The Babadook. It was like a creepypasta!!

Marcin B.

5/18/2015 02:00:58 am

Tusk, eh? So there's a biographical movie about Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Council, already? What do you mean, that's not what it's about?

Trisha

9/7/2016 10:59:44 pm

I just watched Tusk after you recommended it in the Yoga Hosers review...I'm sitting here speechless WHAT DID I JUST WATCH? Was it a horror movie or a dark comedy? I'm blaming you for the night of confusion Brad haha

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Reviews: "V/H/S: Viral," "A Good Marriage," "Tusk" and "The Babadook"

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