here are some really good movies from Second Sight Film this year. Raw, Host, and The Nightingale are amazing Limited Editions, and they are just getting better and better this year. I have just got hold of Second Sight Films' second 4k UHD release (after last year's absolutely amazing Dawn of the Dead release, which is a must-own), The Babadook. Let's check out this release!
Amelia, who lost her husband in a car crash on the way to give birth to Samuel, their only child, and given up writing books for children, struggles to cope with her fate as a single mom. Samuel's constant fear of monsters and violent reaction to overcome the fear doesn't help her cause either, as he is outcast by his friends and family, even making her friends become distant. When things can not get any worse, they discover and read a strange book in their house about the 'Babadook' monster that hides in the dark areas of their house. Even Amelia seems to feel the effect of Babadook and desperately tries in vain to destroy the book. Amelia uses pills and Samuel and she is able to sleep during the night. When the book Mister Babadook appears mended in her front door, weird events happen in the house along with the hallucinations. Does Mister Babadook really exist?
Based on Director and Writer Jennifer Kent's short Monster, The Babadook is a brilliant movie and a must-watch for horror fans. It's refreshing in regards to what it does and how. It's not often that a movie based on a short is better than the original, but this does the job well and is highly enjoyable. The movie is held in high regard, with Exorcist director William Friedkin saying he hadn't seen a movie more terrifying than this one. As much as I do not agree with this sentiment, it is a brilliant movie and one of the best I have watched in a very long time.
This movie will never have a sequel in Jennifer Kent's lifetime as she owns the rights to the movie and she has stated that it doesn't matter how much money she is offered she will never allow it as she feels it is not that type of movie. This is great to hear because I honestly think that making this movie into a franchise would be a bad thing.
Did you hear the video game samples in the movie? I heard samples from Warcraft II, XCOM: UFO Defence, Resident Evil, and Mortal Kombat3!
I have to say I love the book (designed by the incredibly talented Alexander Juhasz), and would love to have a copy if I could obtain one! When the movie was released there was a campaign to buy a handmade Babadook pop-up book, with the first 2,000 being numbered and signed by Jennifer Kent. This book had the pop pages from the movie as well as some additional pages not featured in the movie. Over 8,000 copies were sold of the first edition, and a second edition was sold up until 2019. This is an incredibly rare book and has been seen for sale for up to $3,000!
Now, let's take a look at the Limited Edition release done by Second Sight Films.
The movie is in both UHD and Blu-Ray formats, and the movie hasn't looked better. The 4K master was produced by the original post-production facility in HDR10, giving a beautifully crisp and clear audio and visual experience. The discs also feature English (SDH) subtitles, interviews with cast & crew, making-of featurettes, and Monster (the short The Babadook is based on. Jennifer Kent classes this as "Baby Babadook"!) and audio commentary.
The discs are housed in a rigid slipcase with artwork by Peter Diamond, along with a hardback book and 6 collector's art cards. The book has new essays about the movie, an interview with Jennifer Kent, movie stills, behind-the-scenes pictures as well as original illustration concepts for the Mister Babadook Book. The book is incredible to look through and a beautiful accompanying piece to a brilliant movie.
The Babadook is an awesome movie and an incredible directorial debut by Jennifer Kent, doing at least one thing you would not expect. This Limited Edition release is amazing, and once more Second Sight Films has hit it out of the park with this excellent boxset, that is a must-have for horror fans.
The Babadook 4K UHD Limited Edition is rated 15 and you can buy it directly from Second Sight Films HERE.
The art print by Dom Bittner is available to buy HERE. It is a limited run of 50 and will not be reprinted once sold out. This art is not been done in conjunction with Second Sight Films and is fan art.