What age rating is The Babadook?

In Spain, The Babadook is not recommended for children under 16 years old.

When does The Babadook come out in Spain?

The Babadook hits Spanish theaters on January 16, 2015.

How much did The Babadook gross?

The Babadook grossed $10.3M worldwide on a budget of $2.0M.

The Babadook

Name: The Babadook
Director: Jennifer Kent
Genre: Drama, Horror
Released: 2014-05-22
Duration: 1 h 35 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West

2014

Become a fan of its genres:

6.5/10

Release Date

22/05/2014

Popularity

🍅 Rotten Tomatoes

98%

🎬 Internet Movie Database

68%

Ⓜ️ Metacritic

86%

Whether it's in a word or a glance, there's nothing you can do against... BABADOOK.

Amelia lives in Adelaide with her six-year-old son, Samuel. Her husband, Oskar, died in a car accident years ago while driving her to the hospital to give birth. Amelia is exhausted and has little left to hold herself and her son together. Samuel, however, starts behaving erratically. He has trouble at school, the family's social life suffers, and he becomes obsessed with an imaginary monster he has built weapons to fight. Amelia tries to restore order at home and get her son back on track, but she doesn't know how to reach him. Jennifer Kent directs this psychological horror, and Essie Davis plays a mother who runs out of resources in the face of a child who seems to live in another world.

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Facts about The Babadook

Releases, age ratings, box office, post-credit scenes and more.

Post-credits sceneNone

Age ratingNot recommended for viewers under 16 years old

Spain releaseJanuary 16, 2015

Worldwide premiereJanuary 17, 2014

Runtime1 h 35 min

Original languageEnglish

Original titleThe Babadook

CountriesAustralia, Canada

Production companiesScreen Australia, Smoking Gun Productions, Causeway Films

Budget$2.0M

Worldwide box office$10.3M

U.S. Box Office$964K

Return on investmentx5.2 Box office hit

Trailer views65K

More ratings

3.3/5Letterboxd67/100Trakt7.5/10Metacritic (público)3.5/4Roger Ebert

Awards for The Babadook

56total awards

64total nominations

Awards won

2014AACTA Award for Best Film
2014AACTA Award for Best Direction · Jennifer Kent
2014AACTA Award for Best Original Screenplay · Jennifer Kent

Nominations

2014AACTA Award for Best Film
2014AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
2014AACTA Award for Best Direction
2014AACTA Award for Best Editing
2014AACTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
2014AACTA Award for Best Production Design

The Babadook Cast

Essie DavisAmelia Vanek

Noah WisemanSamuel Vanek

Hayley McElhinneyClaire

Daniel HenshallRobbie

Barbara WestGracie Roach

Ben WinspearOskar Vanek

Cathy AdamekPrue

Craig BehennaWarren

HachiBugsy

Tim PurcellThe Babadook

Chloe HurnRuby

Jacquy PhillipsBeverly

Bridget WaltersNorma

Adam MorganSergeant

Pippa WanganeenEastern Suburbs Mum 1

Peta ShannonEastern Suburbs Mum 2

Michelle NightingaleEastern Suburbs Mum 3

Tony MackPrincipal

Carmel JohnsonTeacher

Michael GilmourYoung Policeman 1

Craig McArdleYoung Policeman 2

Terence CrawfordDoctor

Tiffany Lyndall-KnightSupermarket Mum

Lucy HongSupermarket Little Girl

Sophie RiggsCheckout Chick

John MauriceCar Guy

Stephen SheehanMagician

Alicia ZorkovicFast Food Mum

Lotte CrawfordKissing Woman

Chris RobertsKissing Man

Annie BattenOld Woman in Corridor

India ZorkovicFast Food Kid 1

Isla ZorkovicFast Food Kid 2

Charlie CrabtreeFast Food Kid 3

Ethan GrabisFast Food Kid 4

Sophie AllanFast Food Kid 5

Cast of The Babadook also appears in these series

Currently airing

Alien: Earth2025– · ★ 7.3

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities2022 · ★ 7.4

Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams2017–2018 · ★ 7.0

One Day2024 · ★ 7.7

Defending Jacob2020 · ★ 8.2

Clickbait2021 · ★ 7.1

Cast of The Babadook by the numbers

33average cast age in years

39years of age gap between the leads

60%women in the cast

27%women in the crew

The youngest in the main cast: Noah Wiseman, age 6 at release. The oldest: Essie Davis, at 45.

Cast ages at release

Essie Davis45 years old
Noah Wiseman6 years old
Hayley McElhinney40 years old
Daniel Henshall32 years old
Craig Behenna41 years old

Crew

AddressJennifer Kent
WritingJennifer Kent
MusicJed Kurzel
PhotographyRadek Ładczuk
EditingSimon Njoo
Production designAlex Holmes
Costume designHeather Wallace
CastingNikki Barrett
Visual effectsMarty Pepper
ProductionKristian Moliere, Kristina Ceyton

Trivia about The Babadook

According to Kent, a Victorian-style house was built specifically for the film, since there are very few of that type in Adelaide. The exterior scenes, on the other hand, were shot at an existing house in the north of the city.

The Kickstarter campaign to fund the sets had a goal of $30,000. It closed on September 27, 2012, with $30,071 pledged by 259 people.

Casting director Nikki Barrett reviewed around 500 audition tapes of children before choosing the young lead, Noah Wiseman, who was six years old at the time.

The monster was created with stop-motion effects, and considerable image smoothing was later applied in post-production.

Outside Australia, the film performed much better. It earned more than $1.09 million in France and 335,000 in Thailand.

The Babadook was the first Australian horror film to win the top three prizes at the AFI or AACTA Awards: best film, best director, and best original screenplay.

Before directing, Kent wrote to Lars von Trier to ask if she could sit in on the set of Dogville. She considers that experience her "film school."

To mark its tenth anniversary, The Babadook was re-released in American theaters on September 19, 2024, distributed by Iconic Events Releasing and IFC Films.

Sources: Wikipedia (English)

What it's about The Babadook

monsternightmareparent child relationshipdysfunctional familysleeplessnesssingle mothergrievingdeath of spousebehavioral disorderspsychological disorderstraumatized womanadelaide australiaadelaidedepressinghorrified

Main theme: parental mental illness, death of subject's partner, psychological trauma, coming to terms with the past