September 8, 2023 • 46 mins
Ever been intrigued by the mysteries of horror films and the eerie entities they portray? Brace yourself for a gripping discussion as Anna Schmidt of the Perfectly Paranormal podcast and I unravel the chilling narrative and thematic depth of the 2014 Australian horror film, The Babadook. We dive into the plot's fascinating dynamics, the cast's extraordinary performances, and the unique challenges faced by a young actor immersed in a spooky role.
From the first eerie encounter to the climactic power struggle, The Babadook takes its viewers through a haunting journey of possession and redemption. Anna and I dissect the progression of the paranormal presence in the film, shedding light on the emotional trauma that fuels its manifestation. As a twist, we discuss a less conventional approach to dealing with such entities, prioritising emotional resonance over traditional tools. We even bring to light a recent, real-life case that tests this unique approach.
Moving beyond the spectral spookiness, our conversation delves into the profound themes and imagery that create the haunting ambience of The Babadook. How does the strained relationship between Amelia and her sister underpin the narrative tension? What's the story behind the sinister book that introduces the Babadook? Join us as we navigate these dark narratives and the enigmatic corners of the horror genre.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Monster Kid Podcast.
Pete (00:39):
G'day and welcome to A Dingo Ate My Movie, a podcast
where we talk about the weirdand wonderful world of
Australian film from the 70s,80s and beyond.
As always, I'm your host, Pete,and today I'm joined by Anna
Schmidt of the perfectlyparanormal podcast to discuss
the Babadook from 2014 .
really the It's really thelatest movie I've ever done on
(01:01):
this podcast, but welcome aboard, Anna.
Anna (01:05):
Hello, pete, it's great to be here.
Pete (01:08):
I love the Name of your Podcast.
It rolls off the tongue verynicely.
The three P's.
Anna (01:12):
The three P's.
Well, life is perfectlyparanormal from my point of view
.
Pete (01:18):
The Babadook is a 2014 Australian horror film about
Amelia, a widowed mum, and herson Samuel.
They find a creepy children'sbook about a monster called the
Babadook and soon realize thecreature is real and tormenting
them.
It's a psychological thrillride that explores both grief
and fear and all sorts of otherthings.
(01:38):
It's a very unsettling movie attimes.
It stars Essie Davis, noahWiseman, daniel Henshel Hayley I
should have checked this one.
It's Mac and Haney, barbaraWest and Ben Winspear.
It was written and directed byJennifer Kent, who also wrote
the book Monster and the shortfilm which this movie is based
(02:02):
on.
The budget was $2 million.
It made around $10 million atthe box office.
I did really well.
They did a round of fundraisingand then I think they got the
balance from the government anda whole lot of other stuff.
It's currently rated a 6.8 outof 10 on IMDBcom and has a 98%
(02:25):
critic score and a 72% audiencescore on Rotten Tomatoes, which
is really good.
It's a very highly regardedfilm.
This one is a lot different toa lot of the other films I do on
this podcast.
I watched it on Netflix inAustralia, so I think it's
probably streaming somewhere inthe world at any time.
You can get the DVD.
(02:46):
I think Umbrella Entertainmentdo the DVD.
They have a Blu-ray and nowthey have a 4K Blu-ray.
I haven't picked them up yetbut I will.
The film was primarily shot inAdelaide, south Australia, as
per a requirement from the SouthAustralian government, which
actually provided some fundingfor the film.
A lot of the interior shotswere basically just shot on a
soundstage in the city.
One of the things I guess we'lltalk about is how this would
(03:11):
have been working with thisyoung boy who was 6 years old in
this movie.
It was quite interesting to seewhether it would be very
harrowing for him, but it wasinteresting.
Looking into the film a bit,the Jennifer Kent herself said
that they had to be reallyprotective of him when they were
filming.
They did some reverse shotswhere SE Davis was abusing his
(03:33):
character and for those scenesthe director had SE Davis yell
at an adult stand-in that wasdown on his knees for the height
.
She was saying that she didn'twant to destroy someone's
childhood just to make a moviewhich others Very good.
What were your first thoughtson this film, anna, when you
first saw it?
Anna (03:53):
Well, I'm what I call a paranormal addict.
I work in the paranormal realmas a house healer and I'll go
into homes and clear people'shomes of paranormal intruders.
So I live the lifestyle of theparanormal every single day.
So this movie is right up myalley because we're talking
about a lower vibrational beingis in this home.
(04:17):
And, yes, I actually think forSam the character.
It would have been quiteunsettling for a boy of that age
to be an actor in this movie,but I think that they would have
mixed up the shots andsubstituted him out, like you
said before, with an adult actor, because it is quite
confronting.
(04:38):
I've watched it a few times andsome of the scenes still make
me shudder and sort of look away, and because, being a mother, I
would never speak to my childthe way that she spoke to him.
But there are reasons why sheused that tone which I'm sure
we're going to talk about lateron.
Pete (04:58):
At first.
I've got to say the kid droveme up the wall for the first 20
minutes of the movie.
He drives me nuts and he'sreally annoying and there's lots
of memes on the internet allabout it and all that sort of
stuff.
But eventually the movie got alot more serious and a lot more
dark, definitely a lot darker,and I wasn't sure at times
(05:20):
whether my initial thoughts wereare they having like a shared
psychosis?
Because obviously the motherwas sleep deprived and she was
sort of dealing with grief andall that sort of stuff.
The son was also very affectedin a lot of ways as well.
Anna (05:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Now, when I look at Sam, I feelthat his character was actually
very psychically open.
Children are very open to thepsychic realms.
They see spirits, they see thelow vibrational beings, they
feel them, they just they knowthey're around.
And I found I actually thoughtthat Sam was on the spectrum and
(06:04):
I find that sometimes childrenwho have highly, highly
sensitive actually pick up onthese paranormal beings.
And I'm sure we're going totalk about some of the gadgets
that he made.
He was highly creative, oh mygosh, a little bit frightening,
but he had a reason why he madethese gadgets.
(06:24):
But he was just very open.
I mean you can talk about ashared psychosis.
He would have felt his mother'sgrief but he didn't know why
until they tell us right at theend of the movie.
But I, you found him annoying,I actually found him fascinating
.
I like to study people in thesesorts of movies and see how the
character develops and wherethey go with it.
Pete (06:48):
Yeah, I think I found him annoying at first.
I think it was just when, oncethe once he did start, the
character did start developing.
I think that's where it reallycaught on for me and I just
found it fascinating that thatthis little boy could act this
way.
For starters, and because theymust have, he still had some
scenes that he had to do in thismovie that would have been
(07:09):
probably difficult for him to doright, because there's scenes
where he's kind of having aseizure in the back of the car,
that sort of stuff, and for himto do that I'm sure they did it
in a way that they kind of Idon't know, made a game of it or
whatever they did to kind of,you know, make it easier for him
.
But a lot of those scenes hecan't help but being in with his
(07:32):
mother in the movie, and a lotof those scenes are quite
disturbing.
I found it quite disturbing andI also found it quite thought
provoking.
So my wife and I both watched itthe other night and when I woke
up in the morning I said justthe usual thing, asked my wife
how she slept and she said well,I would have slept better if it
(07:53):
wasn't for that movie and Isaid, well, I said, why were you
scared?
She says no, I just spent mostof the night just thinking about
it and and all this is the same, it just spent a lot of time
just thinking about the movieand about what I just watched
and trying to make some sense ofit.
And there's so many littleparts of this movie that we
(08:14):
can't.
We won't cover everything onthis, because one I don't really
want to give a lot away becauseit's definitely a movie worth
watching.
If you haven't seen it, I'm surea lot of people have, but it's
just like.
It's such an interesting movie,like there's you've got the
relationship with the mother andhis sister and that's, you know
, been taught for a few years,and it sort of blows up and it's
(08:39):
.
And then you've got the nextdoor neighbor and I'm trying to
figure out where she fits into.
All this really, reallyinteresting stuff.
Anna (08:45):
Well, the thing is, you've also got the relationship
between Amelia and the I'm goingto call it a demonic being,
because it was definitely downthe darker end of the scale.
The relationship that she hadwith that being was quite
interesting and, being aparanormal worker, that is what
I found most fascinating, fromthe beginning through to the
(09:08):
middle of the movie, where ittakes a very, very dark turn,
and the actual outcome was myfavorite part I won't say
because I don't want to spoil itfor anyone and I'm probably
actually going to watch it againtonight, because every time I
watch that movie I pick up ondifferent aspects.
I pick up on other aspects thatI didn't see last time because
(09:31):
I work, like I keep saying, inthe paranormal world every day
and a lot of people don't see it, don't feel it, don't want to
know about it, they just want tokeep it as paranormal drama.
But paranormal beings, from myperspective, if you don't mind
me saying, they connect to usbecause we are energy beings in
these physical bodies who createemotional imprints, which is
(09:53):
what Amelia does in this movie.
She has a massive buildup ofgrief and that creates a
vibration.
And when she creates thatvibration and she carries it for
a very long time.
It can attract paranormalbeings to her in the house, and
this is what her son sees in thehome and, being well the man in
(10:18):
the family, as I saw him as hischaracter developed, he took on
the role of protector.
Pete (10:25):
I always thought when I was watching the movie, like at
the start of the movie, you knowshe's already worn out and
she's already grieving and stillgrieving.
But she just gets worse andworse during the movie and the
feeling I got was that theentity was kind of trying to get
in and when she got to thispoint of just sheer exhaustion
(10:46):
and just total losing her mind,basically to me that was kind of
like the opportunity that thatentity was looking for to enter
her, because there was a periodwhere it almost becomes like a
possession movie, right, likeshe was definitely possessed by
something I'd actually justlistened to I don't think I've
(11:07):
got finished that you've got arecent episode about exorcisms,
and I kind of was thinking aboutthat when I was watching the
movie.
I was like, oh, this is kind ofa bit like what Anna's talking
about in our podcast.
Anna (11:18):
Yes, absolutely I deal.
I don't like using the wordexorcism because it brings up
priests and crosses and holywater and tying people to beds,
which is not what possession is.
If you watch this movie, youwill see what I call the three
phases, where this entity beingknows that she's full of grief,
(11:39):
so it's drawn to her because ofher grief and it starts testing
her.
There starts being the bruisesand the scratches and the
tiredness and the wearing itdown asleep and all sorts of
other issues, and then it startsto destabilize her.
We won't talk about all thethings that happen because we
don't want to spoil it.
But then there is that point,that point in the movie where
(12:02):
she is most vulnerable.
It's almost like she fully letsdown her guard.
That's its point in, andthere's a few things that occur
in the movie after that that Ifound quite shocking.
That is still in my mindforever.
But it wasn't her at that stage.
What she did was not her, itwas this being manipulating this
(12:24):
physical body.
Now I see possession in people.
I think through the work I'vedone, I've probably seen
possession maybe six times todifferent, varying levels within
people.
Now you can help these peopleif you know what you're doing.
I don't use sage, I don't useholy water, I don't use crosses.
It's about finding the traumaand the emotional imprints that
(12:49):
are in people.
That attracts these paranormalbeings, and I quite often will
work with my clients.
They will have had to see theirdoctor first, a mental health
professional, have to be undermedical care, then I will look
at the energetic aspect of theperson.
Now, amelia was reallyinteresting because right at the
(13:10):
end, my favorite part is thetrauma.
My favorite part is where shetook her power back.
That's all I'm going to say,but it was really, really
empowering.
Pete (13:20):
That was a great scene.
We can spoil a bit because Ithink most people have watched
this movie.
I always make it really clearwhen I talk about films in this
podcast.
We are going to spoil stuffbecause that's just the way the
conversation goes If we goaround it too much.
But we'll try and sneak aroundit a little bit because there
are some good bits.
I think it's really interestingthat Samuel can see that it's
(13:42):
not his mother as well.
He kind of says to her a fewtimes you're not my mother,
you're not my mother.
Anna (13:49):
He knew his mother's behaviors, because we all have
behaviors, we all haveattributes ways that we do
things, ways that we talk to ourchildren, the way that we cook,
the way that we walk, the waythat we talk.
And when energy beings enter aperson, their energy changes.
They feel different, they mightfeel colder to someone that's
(14:10):
talking to them, they might feelwarmer.
I quite often find, when I'mtalking to someone that has
paranormal entities within themand, believe me, most people
have some level of paranormalattachment just because of life
experiences, traumas, addictionsand so forth I have particular
physical signs that tell me thatthat person has paranormal
(14:33):
entities present and I just findit fascinating.
This whole.
This movie is just totally,it's very real, it is absolutely
real.
I could see what happened toher in this movie happening to
people in reality.
I mean, it's not connected to abook, that is simply a device.
That is the device that they'veused.
(14:54):
These beings are in ourenvironment all the time and
this is what I talk about on mypodcast.
What I used to talk about on myYouTube channel was to educate
people in a non-beer based way,like when I talk about
possession, as in this movie.
You just make it real forpeople and then you can
recognize the signs whensomeone's personality changes.
(15:17):
Their eating habits change,their sleeping habits change,
they go from being totally calmand demure and just a really
nice, kind person to beingoutright aggressive, dangerous,
and the behaviors are just notnormal.
And it can be connected tomental health and to their
(15:37):
emotional trauma, their lifetraumas, their life experiences.
So it is mental health.
I never, ever say anything isjust paranormal.
But demonic level beings don'tcreate what's in a person, they
enhance what is already there.
I make that very, very specificwhen I talk to people.
(15:58):
The devil never makes you do it, but if you've got a
predisposition or a big build up, like Amelia did, of grief,
they can manipulate you and pokeyou to behave in certain ways
because they've had thatvulnerability and they've got
into your personal energy field.
Pete (16:18):
Like her personality, takes a 180.
Anna (16:20):
There's you know, there's like yeah, it's frightening how
it changes right?
Pete (16:25):
Yeah, it's very, it's, it's almost, and I guess I'll be
weary mentioning it becauseyou've already sort of mentioned
this thing.
It's almost a bit like LindaBlair and the Exorcist, right
when she starts off she's sonice and then her personality
changes completely.
Anna (16:40):
But there's no, there's no , there's no.
What's the word projectilevomiting?
There's no.
Vomiting up nails or walkingacross the ceiling, all these
things that I talk about peoplewho have possession.
Some of them hide it really,really well.
I talk about it through my,especially through that episode
I've just put out.
I think it's number 32.
(17:01):
I'm so far ahead with myscheduling I sometimes forget
what is actually released.
But yeah, there's a couple ofstories in that podcast episode
where you would never pick thatthe person is possessed because,
the underlying energy beings.
They're very sneaky and they'revery manipulative and they want
(17:23):
to keep the person in that lowvibrational state.
And then I want people like mebeing employed to clear them,
because then the energy beingshave to move out and go and find
themselves another host andit's all too hard for them.
They like to stay where theyare.
Can I just mention somethingabout a case I did the other day
?
Now I won't mention a name or alocation, but there was a young
(17:47):
man.
He'd had a very long history ofcocaine usage and his mom came
to me because the doctorcouldn't help him.
The mental health practitionerwas just, they couldn't help him
get off the couch like he waslying around all day.
He had no energy, he wasn'tmotivated with life.
When he did get some motivationand he got up and he thought
I'll get a job, I'll get backout in the workforce.
(18:08):
Something pulled him back intothat negative state Now because
he'd been on cocaine for such along time I think it was 10,
maybe 15 years he was used toliving in that low vibration.
He'd attracted energy beings tohim that were feeding off what
he was creating from thatcocaine vibration, as well as
(18:30):
all the emotions that went withit and his mom said to me which
was the clincher.
She said every time he picks upand he's happier and he gets
out into life and wants to dothings, he falls back into a
hole again.
And I went.
That tells me he has demoniclevel beings manipulating him.
(18:51):
Now I worked with him and hismom told me the other day that
his life is looking better, likehe's happier, he's more stable
mentally and emotionally.
She said he's more settled.
He's got a job interview nextweek and I really got my fingers
crossed for him that he can getback out there and stay living
(19:11):
in that high vibrational stateInteresting that's really
interesting yeah so it's outthere.
possession is out there.
You don't always the movieshave given us a dramatic view of
it, not a reality view, oh yeahthere's bits of this movie
where she's seeing her latehusband, especially near the end
(19:33):
of the movie.
Pete (19:34):
Now I'm thinking is there any link there between this
entity and her?
Is it her late husband, or isit something else or something
that's just giving her thatvision or whatever?
Anna (19:47):
So we know what happened to Amelia.
Can we say what happened to her?
Pete (19:52):
Yeah, we can.
Anna (19:53):
She lost her husband in a car accident.
She didn't seek mental healthcare and so for I think it was
seven or eight years, she had amassive pool of grief and this
entity being new that don't askme how they can read people
energy, they just know they knewthat she had grief.
So what would make her createmore grief would be to see her
(20:16):
husband standing in front of her.
So it took on the facade of thepartner.
So seeing him would alsodestabilize her and make her
question why am I seeing you?
Are you dead?
Are you alive?
Am I in a dream?
So it kind of makes peoplequestion their reality and their
(20:37):
mental health and this beingwas slowly sort of wearing her
down so it could get into her,her energy field, her chakras,
get into her mind, become thatpossession that we hear so often
talked about.
Pete (20:53):
Well, at the end of the day, it's asking her to bring
the boy to him.
Remember that I think it wasnear the end of the film where
it's the husband, or the visionof the husband she's seeing, is
asking her to bring the boy tohim.
Anna (21:07):
Yeah, yeah.
And is that that it wants topossess the boy as well, or does
it actually want to harm theboy?
Or is she a crossing point,because demonic beings always
move from host to host?
This is what I find when I dopeople clearing is that when I
clear them from my clients, theywill always come through that
(21:30):
cord that I create to work witha client, an energy cord.
They will come to me and then Ihave to clear them from myself.
So was it using Amelia as ahalfway point to actually get to
the boy?
Because if that being was in asix year old, it's going to have
a lot longer lifespan with himthan it is with a middle aged
(21:52):
woman.
Pete (22:00):
I just wanted to take a short break and thank you all
for listening.
Don't forget you can follow atDingo, at my Movie, on social
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(22:22):
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Of course, you can always buyme a coffee over at
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Once again, thanks for listeningand let's get back to the
episode.
I really love it because it isa dark film in a lot of ways,
(22:48):
but it did have some funny bits,like my favorite scene, or one
of my favorite scenes isprobably when those social
workers come to the house andthey ask Sam how he's going and
he says he's a bit tired fromall the drugs that mum's given
me.
I'm like well, that's a veryhonest young boy and that's his
(23:09):
character, though right, he justsays things straight out, like
he says to somebody very earlyin the movie that my dad lives
in the cemetery, or somethinglike that, and he's just very
direct.
Anna (23:21):
The kids are, direct I work with children as a teacher
assistant for like 12 years.
So five and six year olds, theytell you there's no beating
around the bush with kids,there's no filter right.
They're going to give you theanswer.
This movie offers lots ofpeople with different
perspectives, different ways tolook at it, different ways to
(23:44):
read it, different things tothink about.
So one of the things that Ithought about with this movie
because I work with dark anddemonic beings pretty much every
day is that they are energybeings, just like your higher
vibrational beings, your guides,angels, archangels and so forth
, but they're just at the otherend of the scale.
They have emotions of their own.
(24:06):
They have a soul, whether youwant to think about that or not.
I've worked with them longenough to know there is soul
energy.
There Was this being lonely asanother point of why it actually
came to Amelia?
Did it want a family?
He was just looking for someone.
Pete (24:23):
He just wanted almost, almost, like he wanted a friend,
so to speak.
Yeah, yeah, you kind of seethat at the end of the movie,
right where she's gained controland they're kind of, once again
, it's probably going to spoilit, but what the hell, they're
kind of living with it.
Anna (24:41):
She manages the relationship is how I call it.
She manages it, yeah.
Pete (24:45):
I think so.
Anna (24:46):
And I feel it in a way, she felt sorry for it and I feel
it in a way it was lonely andit was looking for.
I don't know why it doesn'tconnect with its own kind.
That's probably a whole othertopic to think about for another
time but it was drawn to herenergy and I think in a way as
(25:08):
much as it did the possessionthing, maybe in another
perspective it didn't reallywant to hurt her, Just wanted to
be close to her.
I know that's a bit macabre anda bit out there Makes sense,
but if it wanted to try to gether attention.
if it wanted to actually killthem, it probably could have.
I pushed her down those stairs.
The stairs were very steep.
(25:29):
I mean, when she had that knifeand did what she did in the
movie, she could have actuallyturned it on herself and then
she would have been dead and shewould have been in spirit and
possibly been with this energybeing.
I don't know why.
Maybe it was banished to theEarth's reality for some reason.
There's so many differentaspects to look at, but I feel
(25:51):
that it was actually lonely andit was trying to attach to her
being a demonic level being.
They don't know how to dealwith humans in a decent way and
it was just doing what I thinkit was the only thing it
understood how to do.
Pete (26:05):
There's so much to unpack with this movie.
I just found it really hard toactually unpack everything
because, like I said, I waslooking at the relationship with
her and her sister and how thathad gone downhill.
And the sister has that momentwhere she says to her I hate
being around your son, and thenshe gets angry at her sister for
(26:26):
saying that.
But then she sort of says well,I think you do too.
I was just so much.
And some of the imagery in thismovie is amazing when I think
of things like the book.
For starters, like you weresaying, the book is probably
just a plot device, right?
Because I was thinking one ofthe first questions is like,
well, if this is like some sortof entity, where did the book
(26:47):
come from?
How they link together, right.
And because I have no ideawhere the book comes from.
And then she tears the book upand the book just turns up again
.
She burns it, it doesn't matter, it's still there.
So I'm not sure where theorigins of the book are.
And then the stuff she'swatching on TV is very
interesting, the TV shows she'swatching occasionally although
(27:09):
we get a nice shout out forSkippy the Bush Kangaroo on
there which is quite good.
I'm always chuffed to see Skippythe Bush, kangaroo and some of
the imagery on the TV shows andthings like that was interesting
and I think some of the imageryfor the entity or the Babadook
itself was taken from like somevery early horror films in the
(27:32):
20s and 30s and 40s, that sortof thing.
There was also talk thatJennifer Kent early on wanted to
film the whole thing in blackand white, which would have been
a very interesting way to watchthe movie as well if it was in
black and white, because thatjust changes the whole thing.
But I just find this so much tounpack with this movie that
(27:53):
it's just like almost notoverwhelming but it almost feels
like that, like I said, thatfirst night you go to bed and
you just laid in bed thinkingabout it.
Anna (28:02):
Yeah, exactly.
And if we looked at Amelia'ssister, her relationship with
her nephew, I just don't thinkshe understood Sam as an
individual.
She didn't actually want tobecause he was I don't want to
use the word different.
He was very creative, he wasvery down to earth, whereas her
(28:22):
family were all about the looksand the shoes and the princess
dresses for the daughter was allvery materialistic, whereas
Amelia and Sam didn't have thatmaterial life.
It's almost like the sisterswere at two different ends of
the scale.
The sister was so wrapped up inherself and I know that Amelia
had sort of how can I put it?
(28:44):
She'd drawn on her sister'senergy a lot and probably she'd
got sick of hearing the same oldstory all the time.
But Amelia really wasstruggling.
You think her sister would havetaken her off to see a
psychologist.
There would have been some sortof intervention.
It was really obvious that sheneeded mental health care and
(29:04):
we're Sam with the tablets.
You'd think that the doctorwould have said well, look, we
need to book you in to see apsychologist to help you work
through your grief.
Have you seen a grief counselor?
Because Sam couldn't sleep,because he was protecting his
mum from what was in the housebecause he knew it wanted to get
to her.
But how does a young boyexplain that to their parent or
(29:28):
to the lady next door?
Now, we didn't talk about thelady next door.
I got sort of sidetracked, as Ido when I talk about the
paranormal.
I just feel like she was agrounding figure throughout this
whole movie because it spends alot of time in the ether, you
know, talking about the darknessand about energy and about
vibration and about this denseenergy.
(29:49):
She was almost like a groundingforce, like that earthly
grandma sort of figure thatwould be there for Sam if he
needed someone.
So I just feel like she was anice old lady next door who was
lonely herself and that reallyenjoyed Sam's company.
Pete (30:07):
You can see that at the end, like that final, one of the
final scenes where he'sobviously been staying with her
when she comes home from work.
I think actually in a movie asdark as this you kind of need a
character like that to kind ofjust bring some a bit of
normalcy into it and to make itlike, oh okay, when she's around
there's nothing really badgoing on and she has their
(30:29):
interests at heart.
The other scene that'sinteresting and I guess it's the
only blooper I can remember inthe whole film is when Sam
pushes his cousin out of thecubby house when they're having
that argument and she's beingabsolutely terrible to him and
her mother's not having a bar ofit.
When it all happens she's justlike oh, it's all Sam's problem,
(30:51):
it's all his problem, he's theone.
But she was standing theretelling him in that house, a
six-year-old boy.
She was telling him, as kids do, I guess, that you know you
don't have a dad, you're notspecial, blah, blah, blah, etc.
And he pushes her out.
The only blooper I saw in thefilm is she falls out, I think
backwards, but is forwards whenshe's on the ground.
When he comes out and he sayshe's making his excuse to why he
(31:16):
pushed her out, then the girl'smother or Amelia's sister is
not having a bar of it.
She's just like there'ssomething wrong with you.
I'm not listening to whatyou're doing, what you're saying
and that's it.
She's got no time for him atall, like you were saying.
Anna (31:32):
No, well, it's Mummy's little princess never does
anything wrong.
She can say whatever she likesand she can hurt whatever she
you know whichever person thatshe likes through her words.
But I mean, what Sam did waswrong.
Pushing her was wrong.
But children and adults willreact in a split second if they
are triggered.
(31:52):
She knew she was her mother'sdaughter to a T Even at the age
of six.
She was quite nasty for a sixyear old.
Obviously parent modelinghadn't been very good.
So she triggered Sam in such away because he'd had trauma in
his life.
He's still got trauma, he'sdead.
He's dead.
His mum's unwell.
(32:13):
The lady next door is sort oflike a grandmother figure, which
is helpful.
But he just reacted like anyonewould react in that split
second, especially a child.
They're not going to thinkfirst oh, if I push her she's
going to fall out.
He was reacting because of whatshe said and if the mother was
(32:33):
decent she would have asked bothsides of the story.
Well, actually you shouldn'thave said that to Sam.
You are just as much at faultas he is.
But she was just so one-sidednot even interested.
They're totally differentpeople.
Pete (32:48):
Well, there's even the point where obviously they've
had both their birthdays at thesame time every year, the two
cousins.
And then it comes to the pointwhere Amelia asks her about what
do you want me to do for thisupcoming party?
You want me to get the cake orsomething.
And then she has to tell herwell, I'm not going to do that
this year, I just want mydaughter to have her own party,
(33:12):
which in a way I kind of agreewith as well, because it's like
Amelia really needs to like tomove on, but like she probably
should have had that help to doso.
And it was very interesting thatat the end of the movie she
actually is celebrating hisbirthday on the right day Almost
a happy ending in a way.
Sam really dies in this movieexcept, like obviously, the
(33:36):
father, but you knew that beforethe movie even started.
It's really interesting howthey have taken this great
journey through this film and atthe end she's kind of almost
content with the world.
She looks like she's back atwork, she looks better in
general, she seems more incontrol.
Like you said, there's thatscene that you love where she
(33:57):
kind of just stands up toeverything, yeah, and really and
really owns it, and I thinkthat's where she takes control.
And once she takes control,then she's empowered and she's
happier and she's got this thing, this entity, kind of under her
control.
Or is it just there?
It's quite happy to be livinglike that now because she's he's
(34:20):
getting attention or whateverit is getting attention, even if
it is just eating worms.
Anna (34:25):
You know you took the words right out of my mouth, as
you were saying on that I'mgoing.
This whole movie, as dark as itwas, and some of the things
that did happen, the whole thingmade her a stronger human being
.
She actually took control ofher life and went.
You know what?
I'm not going to live like this.
(34:46):
I know you're here, you'regoing to be staying here, for
whatever reason that is.
We're going to have to getalong.
So we're going to have tocompromise.
So she compromised with ademonic level being.
It stayed in the basement.
She fed it what she could Notthat she probably needed to feed
it anything anyway, becauseit's an energy being, but we
(35:06):
won't go there with that.
I think that was more a.
That was more an offering.
That was more giving it anoffering.
As you know, I appreciate you.
I know you're here.
We need to kind of look aftereach other and I feel like she
actually had a sense ofcompassion for this being.
(35:27):
I mean quite often when I workwith.
I work with clearing thesedemonic beings from people.
Like I said before, they'llcome through the courting that I
create.
I clear them for whateverthey're attached to within me,
because they're only interestedin the emotions.
I clear that away.
They go back out in theenvironment.
You don't harm them.
You don't disrespect them.
I work very respectfully withthese beings because you've got
(35:50):
to remember, there are millionsof them out there and I've had
experiences in the early dayswhere if you're rude to them or
you try to do somethinginappropriate, there is a
backlash, there is retaliation.
So I've learned that what I putout with them, the way I treat
them, is generally what I getback.
So that's what Amelia did.
Is that she, this thing,retreated to the basement
(36:12):
because it was a dark place?
It could be down there and inexist in.
I actually think there was aportal down there too, but
that's a topic for another.
I think maybe it used to comeand go through the basement,
which is very dark in that backcorner, but I think it just
liked her.
For whatever reason, it felt aconnection to her energy for
(36:33):
some reason.
Like you said, there's a lot tounpack in this movie.
It's more than what you see onthe surface.
Pete (36:40):
Absolutely, that's like I said, had a lot to do with my
five hours sleep, the usualseven or eight.
The final thing I say about thismovie that is so good is that
it's super chilling.
It's quite scary in parts, it'sdisturbing, but the best part
that I remember is never oncethat I can recall did the movie
(37:02):
resort to jump scares.
I don't think there's one jumpscare in this movie.
You know I'm talking about thejump scare, right?
So there's nothing.
It's just, it's all atmosphereand just disturbing themes and
things like that.
That makes it frightening and Ithink that's what makes a great
movie.
Great is that, especially witha horror film, because horror
(37:23):
films rely like, if you've seenin CDS or any of those movies,
those movies really rely on jumpscares, like really quiet and
then some bang or something likethat, whereas this movie really
there was banging and things,but it wasn't kind of done in
such a way to make you jump, itwasn't, it was just there, if
you know what I mean.
Anna (37:42):
So I think that's what elevates this movie above some
others and well, I always say topeople that there's a
difference between the horrorparanormal movies and true
paranormal movies, which is whatthe Baba Dook is.
It is purely psychological andit's actually very real.
(38:03):
So this is what I like and thisis why my podcast is called
perfectly paranormal, becauseit's normal, it's just a normal
part of our life and you can seeit in Amelia.
This being is in her house.
Her son is interacting with it.
She's interacting with it.
It's causing all sorts oftrauma.
This is what they do.
A lot of those other movies youmight get, like the ones we've
(38:26):
mentioned, you might get maybe10% of it is what I would call
real paranormal.
The rest of it's what I callparanormal drama, which is what
people want.
They don't want the real stuff.
They want the drama stuffthat's going to give them the
jump, scares and the fear and soforth, because that's horror
but that's not real paranormal.
Pete (38:47):
All right.
So that was talk, a very goodconversation around the Babadook
, which I loved.
You loved it Absolutely, you'regonna.
You said you're gonna watch itagain, so it's great.
I'll probably watch it againfor sure, because I like there's
still so much that I want toget out of it and I think movies
like that really benefit frommultiple watches.
(39:07):
So looking forward to that.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour podcast and what your
latest episodes all about.
Anna (39:16):
Ah, they can find you.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I talked a little bit aboutthat during our interview, is
that?
Pete (39:22):
that's right.
This is the official plugsection.
Anna (39:25):
Oh sorry.
So here we go.
So I work is what I call aparanormal house clearer.
So I'm based in Tasmania inAustralia and I work worldwide.
I'm actually starting a job inFlorence, italy, tomorrow.
All you need is the permissionof the person who owns the
property photos, floor plans anda couple of other things and I
(39:46):
can enter that propertyenergetically and clear the
energy presences that are therethat shouldn't be there.
It's fascinating work.
So my podcast is based onsharing real life experiences.
I always change people's namesand locations if I ever mention
a location, and usually thegender, so you're going to find
(40:08):
it really hard to pinpoint it toa particular person if you
think you know who they are.
Because it's all about sharingthe experiences.
To make it relatable, just aswe've talked about in the
Babadook, is that what Ameliawent through is actually very
relevant to real life.
So I take the paranormal inreality.
(40:31):
I don't do the horror, don't dothe jump scares.
What I talk about is no fear.
In what I talk about through mypodcast it's very relatable.
I do make it slightly notdramatic.
I suppose I'm a Leo, so I'mslightly dramatic.
I make it interesting, butthere's none of the fear based.
There's no go.
I mean, I've got 10 year oldswatching it, their mums
(40:54):
listening to it, their mums letthem listen to it because then
they can understand about theparanormal world around us, and
I share lots of what the signsand symptoms are, how these
beings affect you, so that youcan notice in your environment
when things change or you gointo a place and all of a sudden
you don't feel well, yourstomach's hurting, your head's
(41:17):
hurting, your vision's blurry,all these sorts of symptoms.
It's just a bad awareness.
So I'm all about educatingpeople about the paranormal
world that is around us.
Pete (41:29):
I found it really accessible, the episodes I've
listened to, and I also thinkit's great that you don't go
straight for the paranormalstuff in the way that you always
say and I think you mentionedthis earlier today is see a
doctor, see a psychologist or apsychiatrist, then we'll talk
(41:49):
about it.
So, in other words, let's makesure there's no other issues
there, then we can go from there.
Absolutely, what's your latestepisode?
Is it the one I listened to?
Anna (41:59):
It's episode 32 and it's all about possession.
I talk about three or fourdifferent stories that I've
experienced of possessionthrough my many years of doing
this work, and it's all veryrelatable.
I mean, there's nothing scaryabout the way I talk about this
and this is why I find that it'shard to promote it, because
(42:20):
everyone wants they all want theparanormal drama.
Pete (42:24):
You're on socials.
Can people contact you onsocials?
I have Instagram.
Anna (42:28):
I also have a website and I can send you those details if
you like.
Pete (42:33):
Yeah, that'd be great because I'll put them in the
show notes.
Anna (42:35):
Yeah, that'd be lovely.
Pete (42:37):
Well, thanks so much for coming on.
It's been great talking to you.
Anna (42:40):
You're welcome.
I've loved it.
Pete (42:41):
I can always talk about the paranormal, anytime I know,
I can tell, and when we returnwe'll be talking about what's
coming up next.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
And now preview time.
When it comes to entertainment,you can't beat a good film, so
let's take a look at what'scoming your way, what we see and
(43:13):
what we seem about a dream, adream within a dream.
You must learn to love someoneelse apart from me.
Sarah, I won't be here muchlonger.
(43:34):
Good morning, girls, Goodmorning.
Anna (43:52):
Mrs Appanella.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Well, young ladies, we are indeed fortunate in the
weather for our picnic toHanging Rock.
I have instructed ma'am Wazellethere's, the day is likely to
be warm.
You may remove your gloves oncethe drag has passed through
wood end.
We'll partake of luncheon atthe picnic grounds near the rock
.
Once again, let me remind you,the rock itself is extremely
dangerous.
You are therefore forbidden anytomboy foolishness in the
(44:16):
matter of exploration, even onthe lowest slopes.
Pete (44:39):
Miranda, miranda, miranda, don't go on there, come back
Next up on A Dingo.
At my Movie I'm joined by avery good friend of the show,
(44:59):
tab, and we'll be talking aboutPeter Wears.
Mysterious and Haunting Picnicat Hanging Rock from 1975.
You're listening to Monster Kid Podcast.
Pete (00:39):
G'day and welcome to A Dingo Ate My Movie, a podcast
where we talk about the weirdand wonderful world of
Australian film from the 70s,80s and beyond.
As always, I'm your host, Pete,and today I'm joined by Anna
Schmidt of the perfectlyparanormal podcast to discuss
the Babadook from 2014 .
really the It's really thelatest movie I've ever done on
(01:01):
this podcast, but welcome aboard, Anna.
Anna (01:05):
Hello, pete, it's great to be here.
Pete (01:08):
I love the Name of your Podcast.
It rolls off the tongue verynicely.
The three P's.
Anna (01:12):
The three P's.
Well, life is perfectlyparanormal from my point of view
.
Pete (01:18):
The Babadook is a 2014 Australian horror film about
Amelia, a widowed mum, and herson Samuel.
They find a creepy children'sbook about a monster called the
Babadook and soon realize thecreature is real and tormenting
them.
It's a psychological thrillride that explores both grief
and fear and all sorts of otherthings.
(01:38):
It's a very unsettling movie attimes.
It stars Essie Davis, noahWiseman, daniel Henshel Hayley I
should have checked this one.
It's Mac and Haney, barbaraWest and Ben Winspear.
It was written and directed byJennifer Kent, who also wrote
the book Monster and the shortfilm which this movie is based
(02:02):
on.
The budget was $2 million.
It made around $10 million atthe box office.
I did really well.
They did a round of fundraisingand then I think they got the
balance from the government anda whole lot of other stuff.
It's currently rated a 6.8 outof 10 on IMDBcom and has a 98%
(02:25):
critic score and a 72% audiencescore on Rotten Tomatoes, which
is really good.
It's a very highly regardedfilm.
This one is a lot different toa lot of the other films I do on
this podcast.
I watched it on Netflix inAustralia, so I think it's
probably streaming somewhere inthe world at any time.
You can get the DVD.
(02:46):
I think Umbrella Entertainmentdo the DVD.
They have a Blu-ray and nowthey have a 4K Blu-ray.
I haven't picked them up yetbut I will.
The film was primarily shot inAdelaide, south Australia, as
per a requirement from the SouthAustralian government, which
actually provided some fundingfor the film.
A lot of the interior shotswere basically just shot on a
soundstage in the city.
One of the things I guess we'lltalk about is how this would
(03:11):
have been working with thisyoung boy who was 6 years old in
this movie.
It was quite interesting to seewhether it would be very
harrowing for him, but it wasinteresting.
Looking into the film a bit,the Jennifer Kent herself said
that they had to be reallyprotective of him when they were
filming.
They did some reverse shotswhere SE Davis was abusing his
(03:33):
character and for those scenesthe director had SE Davis yell
at an adult stand-in that wasdown on his knees for the height
.
She was saying that she didn'twant to destroy someone's
childhood just to make a moviewhich others Very good.
What were your first thoughtson this film, anna, when you
first saw it?
Anna (03:53):
Well, I'm what I call a paranormal addict.
I work in the paranormal realmas a house healer and I'll go
into homes and clear people'shomes of paranormal intruders.
So I live the lifestyle of theparanormal every single day.
So this movie is right up myalley because we're talking
about a lower vibrational beingis in this home.
(04:17):
And, yes, I actually think forSam the character.
It would have been quiteunsettling for a boy of that age
to be an actor in this movie,but I think that they would have
mixed up the shots andsubstituted him out, like you
said before, with an adult actor, because it is quite
confronting.
(04:38):
I've watched it a few times andsome of the scenes still make
me shudder and sort of look away, and because, being a mother, I
would never speak to my childthe way that she spoke to him.
But there are reasons why sheused that tone which I'm sure
we're going to talk about lateron.
Pete (04:58):
At first.
I've got to say the kid droveme up the wall for the first 20
minutes of the movie.
He drives me nuts and he'sreally annoying and there's lots
of memes on the internet allabout it and all that sort of
stuff.
But eventually the movie got alot more serious and a lot more
dark, definitely a lot darker,and I wasn't sure at times
(05:20):
whether my initial thoughts wereare they having like a shared
psychosis?
Because obviously the motherwas sleep deprived and she was
sort of dealing with grief andall that sort of stuff.
The son was also very affectedin a lot of ways as well.
Anna (05:41):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Now, when I look at Sam, I feelthat his character was actually
very psychically open.
Children are very open to thepsychic realms.
They see spirits, they see thelow vibrational beings, they
feel them, they just they knowthey're around.
And I found I actually thoughtthat Sam was on the spectrum and
(06:04):
I find that sometimes childrenwho have highly, highly
sensitive actually pick up onthese paranormal beings.
And I'm sure we're going totalk about some of the gadgets
that he made.
He was highly creative, oh mygosh, a little bit frightening,
but he had a reason why he madethese gadgets.
(06:24):
But he was just very open.
I mean you can talk about ashared psychosis.
He would have felt his mother'sgrief but he didn't know why
until they tell us right at theend of the movie.
But I, you found him annoying,I actually found him fascinating
.
I like to study people in thesesorts of movies and see how the
character develops and wherethey go with it.
Pete (06:48):
Yeah, I think I found him annoying at first.
I think it was just when, oncethe once he did start, the
character did start developing.
I think that's where it reallycaught on for me and I just
found it fascinating that thatthis little boy could act this
way.
For starters, and because theymust have, he still had some
scenes that he had to do in thismovie that would have been
(07:09):
probably difficult for him to doright, because there's scenes
where he's kind of having aseizure in the back of the car,
that sort of stuff, and for himto do that I'm sure they did it
in a way that they kind of Idon't know, made a game of it or
whatever they did to kind of,you know, make it easier for him
.
But a lot of those scenes hecan't help but being in with his
(07:32):
mother in the movie, and a lotof those scenes are quite
disturbing.
I found it quite disturbing andI also found it quite thought
provoking.
So my wife and I both watched itthe other night and when I woke
up in the morning I said justthe usual thing, asked my wife
how she slept and she said well,I would have slept better if it
(07:53):
wasn't for that movie and Isaid, well, I said, why were you
scared?
She says no, I just spent mostof the night just thinking about
it and and all this is the same, it just spent a lot of time
just thinking about the movieand about what I just watched
and trying to make some sense ofit.
And there's so many littleparts of this movie that we
(08:14):
can't.
We won't cover everything onthis, because one I don't really
want to give a lot away becauseit's definitely a movie worth
watching.
If you haven't seen it, I'm surea lot of people have, but it's
just like.
It's such an interesting movie,like there's you've got the
relationship with the mother andhis sister and that's, you know
, been taught for a few years,and it sort of blows up and it's
(08:39):
.
And then you've got the nextdoor neighbor and I'm trying to
figure out where she fits into.
All this really, reallyinteresting stuff.
Anna (08:45):
Well, the thing is, you've also got the relationship
between Amelia and the I'm goingto call it a demonic being,
because it was definitely downthe darker end of the scale.
The relationship that she hadwith that being was quite
interesting and, being aparanormal worker, that is what
I found most fascinating, fromthe beginning through to the
(09:08):
middle of the movie, where ittakes a very, very dark turn,
and the actual outcome was myfavorite part I won't say
because I don't want to spoil itfor anyone and I'm probably
actually going to watch it againtonight, because every time I
watch that movie I pick up ondifferent aspects.
I pick up on other aspects thatI didn't see last time because
(09:31):
I work, like I keep saying, inthe paranormal world every day
and a lot of people don't see it, don't feel it, don't want to
know about it, they just want tokeep it as paranormal drama.
But paranormal beings, from myperspective, if you don't mind
me saying, they connect to usbecause we are energy beings in
these physical bodies who createemotional imprints, which is
(09:53):
what Amelia does in this movie.
She has a massive buildup ofgrief and that creates a
vibration.
And when she creates thatvibration and she carries it for
a very long time.
It can attract paranormalbeings to her in the house, and
this is what her son sees in thehome and, being well the man in
(10:18):
the family, as I saw him as hischaracter developed, he took on
the role of protector.
Pete (10:25):
I always thought when I was watching the movie, like at
the start of the movie, you knowshe's already worn out and
she's already grieving and stillgrieving.
But she just gets worse andworse during the movie and the
feeling I got was that theentity was kind of trying to get
in and when she got to thispoint of just sheer exhaustion
(10:46):
and just total losing her mind,basically to me that was kind of
like the opportunity that thatentity was looking for to enter
her, because there was a periodwhere it almost becomes like a
possession movie, right, likeshe was definitely possessed by
something I'd actually justlistened to I don't think I've
(11:07):
got finished that you've got arecent episode about exorcisms,
and I kind of was thinking aboutthat when I was watching the
movie.
I was like, oh, this is kind ofa bit like what Anna's talking
about in our podcast.
Anna (11:18):
Yes, absolutely I deal.
I don't like using the wordexorcism because it brings up
priests and crosses and holywater and tying people to beds,
which is not what possession is.
If you watch this movie, youwill see what I call the three
phases, where this entity beingknows that she's full of grief,
(11:39):
so it's drawn to her because ofher grief and it starts testing
her.
There starts being the bruisesand the scratches and the
tiredness and the wearing itdown asleep and all sorts of
other issues, and then it startsto destabilize her.
We won't talk about all thethings that happen because we
don't want to spoil it.
But then there is that point,that point in the movie where
(12:02):
she is most vulnerable.
It's almost like she fully letsdown her guard.
That's its point in, andthere's a few things that occur
in the movie after that that Ifound quite shocking.
That is still in my mindforever.
But it wasn't her at that stage.
What she did was not her, itwas this being manipulating this
(12:24):
physical body.
Now I see possession in people.
I think through the work I'vedone, I've probably seen
possession maybe six times todifferent, varying levels within
people.
Now you can help these peopleif you know what you're doing.
I don't use sage, I don't useholy water, I don't use crosses.
It's about finding the traumaand the emotional imprints that
(12:49):
are in people.
That attracts these paranormalbeings, and I quite often will
work with my clients.
They will have had to see theirdoctor first, a mental health
professional, have to be undermedical care, then I will look
at the energetic aspect of theperson.
Now, amelia was reallyinteresting because right at the
(13:10):
end, my favorite part is thetrauma.
My favorite part is where shetook her power back.
That's all I'm going to say,but it was really, really
empowering.
Pete (13:20):
That was a great scene.
We can spoil a bit because Ithink most people have watched
this movie.
I always make it really clearwhen I talk about films in this
podcast.
We are going to spoil stuffbecause that's just the way the
conversation goes If we goaround it too much.
But we'll try and sneak aroundit a little bit because there
are some good bits.
I think it's really interestingthat Samuel can see that it's
(13:42):
not his mother as well.
He kind of says to her a fewtimes you're not my mother,
you're not my mother.
Anna (13:49):
He knew his mother's behaviors, because we all have
behaviors, we all haveattributes ways that we do
things, ways that we talk to ourchildren, the way that we cook,
the way that we walk, the waythat we talk.
And when energy beings enter aperson, their energy changes.
They feel different, they mightfeel colder to someone that's
(14:10):
talking to them, they might feelwarmer.
I quite often find, when I'mtalking to someone that has
paranormal entities within themand, believe me, most people
have some level of paranormalattachment just because of life
experiences, traumas, addictionsand so forth I have particular
physical signs that tell me thatthat person has paranormal
(14:33):
entities present and I just findit fascinating.
This whole.
This movie is just totally,it's very real, it is absolutely
real.
I could see what happened toher in this movie happening to
people in reality.
I mean, it's not connected to abook, that is simply a device.
That is the device that they'veused.
(14:54):
These beings are in ourenvironment all the time and
this is what I talk about on mypodcast.
What I used to talk about on myYouTube channel was to educate
people in a non-beer based way,like when I talk about
possession, as in this movie.
You just make it real forpeople and then you can
recognize the signs whensomeone's personality changes.
(15:17):
Their eating habits change,their sleeping habits change,
they go from being totally calmand demure and just a really
nice, kind person to beingoutright aggressive, dangerous,
and the behaviors are just notnormal.
And it can be connected tomental health and to their
(15:37):
emotional trauma, their lifetraumas, their life experiences.
So it is mental health.
I never, ever say anything isjust paranormal.
But demonic level beings don'tcreate what's in a person, they
enhance what is already there.
I make that very, very specificwhen I talk to people.
(15:58):
The devil never makes you do it, but if you've got a
predisposition or a big build up, like Amelia did, of grief,
they can manipulate you and pokeyou to behave in certain ways
because they've had thatvulnerability and they've got
into your personal energy field.
Pete (16:18):
Like her personality, takes a 180.
Anna (16:20):
There's you know, there's like yeah, it's frightening how
it changes right?
Pete (16:25):
Yeah, it's very, it's, it's almost, and I guess I'll be
weary mentioning it becauseyou've already sort of mentioned
this thing.
It's almost a bit like LindaBlair and the Exorcist, right
when she starts off she's sonice and then her personality
changes completely.
Anna (16:40):
But there's no, there's no , there's no.
What's the word projectilevomiting?
There's no.
Vomiting up nails or walkingacross the ceiling, all these
things that I talk about peoplewho have possession.
Some of them hide it really,really well.
I talk about it through my,especially through that episode
I've just put out.
I think it's number 32.
(17:01):
I'm so far ahead with myscheduling I sometimes forget
what is actually released.
But yeah, there's a couple ofstories in that podcast episode
where you would never pick thatthe person is possessed because,
the underlying energy beings.
They're very sneaky and they'revery manipulative and they want
(17:23):
to keep the person in that lowvibrational state.
And then I want people like mebeing employed to clear them,
because then the energy beingshave to move out and go and find
themselves another host andit's all too hard for them.
They like to stay where theyare.
Can I just mention somethingabout a case I did the other day
?
Now I won't mention a name or alocation, but there was a young
(17:47):
man.
He'd had a very long history ofcocaine usage and his mom came
to me because the doctorcouldn't help him.
The mental health practitionerwas just, they couldn't help him
get off the couch like he waslying around all day.
He had no energy, he wasn'tmotivated with life.
When he did get some motivationand he got up and he thought
I'll get a job, I'll get backout in the workforce.
(18:08):
Something pulled him back intothat negative state Now because
he'd been on cocaine for such along time I think it was 10,
maybe 15 years he was used toliving in that low vibration.
He'd attracted energy beings tohim that were feeding off what
he was creating from thatcocaine vibration, as well as
(18:30):
all the emotions that went withit and his mom said to me which
was the clincher.
She said every time he picks upand he's happier and he gets
out into life and wants to dothings, he falls back into a
hole again.
And I went.
That tells me he has demoniclevel beings manipulating him.
(18:51):
Now I worked with him and hismom told me the other day that
his life is looking better, likehe's happier, he's more stable
mentally and emotionally.
She said he's more settled.
He's got a job interview nextweek and I really got my fingers
crossed for him that he can getback out there and stay living
(19:11):
in that high vibrational stateInteresting that's really
interesting yeah so it's outthere.
possession is out there.
You don't always the movieshave given us a dramatic view of
it, not a reality view, oh yeahthere's bits of this movie
where she's seeing her latehusband, especially near the end
(19:33):
of the movie.
Pete (19:34):
Now I'm thinking is there any link there between this
entity and her?
Is it her late husband, or isit something else or something
that's just giving her thatvision or whatever?
Anna (19:47):
So we know what happened to Amelia.
Can we say what happened to her?
Pete (19:52):
Yeah, we can.
Anna (19:53):
She lost her husband in a car accident.
She didn't seek mental healthcare and so for I think it was
seven or eight years, she had amassive pool of grief and this
entity being new that don't askme how they can read people
energy, they just know they knewthat she had grief.
So what would make her createmore grief would be to see her
(20:16):
husband standing in front of her.
So it took on the facade of thepartner.
So seeing him would alsodestabilize her and make her
question why am I seeing you?
Are you dead?
Are you alive?
Am I in a dream?
So it kind of makes peoplequestion their reality and their
(20:37):
mental health and this beingwas slowly sort of wearing her
down so it could get into her,her energy field, her chakras,
get into her mind, become thatpossession that we hear so often
talked about.
Pete (20:53):
Well, at the end of the day, it's asking her to bring
the boy to him.
Remember that I think it wasnear the end of the film where
it's the husband, or the visionof the husband she's seeing, is
asking her to bring the boy tohim.
Anna (21:07):
Yeah, yeah.
And is that that it wants topossess the boy as well, or does
it actually want to harm theboy?
Or is she a crossing point,because demonic beings always
move from host to host?
This is what I find when I dopeople clearing is that when I
clear them from my clients, theywill always come through that
(21:30):
cord that I create to work witha client, an energy cord.
They will come to me and then Ihave to clear them from myself.
So was it using Amelia as ahalfway point to actually get to
the boy?
Because if that being was in asix year old, it's going to have
a lot longer lifespan with himthan it is with a middle aged
(21:52):
woman.
Pete (22:00):
I just wanted to take a short break and thank you all
for listening.
Don't forget you can follow atDingo, at my Movie, on social
media.
We're at Dingo Movie on Twitter, dingo Movie Pod on Facebook
and Instagram and we're on theweb at DingoMoviePodcom.
Don't forget also, if you'dlike to support the show, leave
us a rating or review on ApplePodcast or, more importantly,
(22:22):
share the show with your friends.
Of course, you can always buyme a coffee over at
BuyMeYourCoffeecom slash DingoMovie Pod.
Once again, thanks for listeningand let's get back to the
episode.
I really love it because it isa dark film in a lot of ways,
(22:48):
but it did have some funny bits,like my favorite scene, or one
of my favorite scenes isprobably when those social
workers come to the house andthey ask Sam how he's going and
he says he's a bit tired fromall the drugs that mum's given
me.
I'm like well, that's a veryhonest young boy and that's his
(23:09):
character, though right, he justsays things straight out, like
he says to somebody very earlyin the movie that my dad lives
in the cemetery, or somethinglike that, and he's just very
direct.
Anna (23:21):
The kids are, direct I work with children as a teacher
assistant for like 12 years.
So five and six year olds, theytell you there's no beating
around the bush with kids,there's no filter right.
They're going to give you theanswer.
This movie offers lots ofpeople with different
perspectives, different ways tolook at it, different ways to
(23:44):
read it, different things tothink about.
So one of the things that Ithought about with this movie
because I work with dark anddemonic beings pretty much every
day is that they are energybeings, just like your higher
vibrational beings, your guides,angels, archangels and so forth
, but they're just at the otherend of the scale.
They have emotions of their own.
(24:06):
They have a soul, whether youwant to think about that or not.
I've worked with them longenough to know there is soul
energy.
There Was this being lonely asanother point of why it actually
came to Amelia?
Did it want a family?
He was just looking for someone.
Pete (24:23):
He just wanted almost, almost, like he wanted a friend,
so to speak.
Yeah, yeah, you kind of seethat at the end of the movie,
right where she's gained controland they're kind of, once again
, it's probably going to spoilit, but what the hell, they're
kind of living with it.
Anna (24:41):
She manages the relationship is how I call it.
She manages it, yeah.
Pete (24:45):
I think so.
Anna (24:46):
And I feel it in a way, she felt sorry for it and I feel
it in a way it was lonely andit was looking for.
I don't know why it doesn'tconnect with its own kind.
That's probably a whole othertopic to think about for another
time but it was drawn to herenergy and I think in a way as
(25:08):
much as it did the possessionthing, maybe in another
perspective it didn't reallywant to hurt her, Just wanted to
be close to her.
I know that's a bit macabre anda bit out there Makes sense,
but if it wanted to try to gether attention.
if it wanted to actually killthem, it probably could have.
I pushed her down those stairs.
The stairs were very steep.
(25:29):
I mean, when she had that knifeand did what she did in the
movie, she could have actuallyturned it on herself and then
she would have been dead and shewould have been in spirit and
possibly been with this energybeing.
I don't know why.
Maybe it was banished to theEarth's reality for some reason.
There's so many differentaspects to look at, but I feel
(25:51):
that it was actually lonely andit was trying to attach to her
being a demonic level being.
They don't know how to dealwith humans in a decent way and
it was just doing what I thinkit was the only thing it
understood how to do.
Pete (26:05):
There's so much to unpack with this movie.
I just found it really hard toactually unpack everything
because, like I said, I waslooking at the relationship with
her and her sister and how thathad gone downhill.
And the sister has that momentwhere she says to her I hate
being around your son, and thenshe gets angry at her sister for
(26:26):
saying that.
But then she sort of says well,I think you do too.
I was just so much.
And some of the imagery in thismovie is amazing when I think
of things like the book.
For starters, like you weresaying, the book is probably
just a plot device, right?
Because I was thinking one ofthe first questions is like,
well, if this is like some sortof entity, where did the book
(26:47):
come from?
How they link together, right.
And because I have no ideawhere the book comes from.
And then she tears the book upand the book just turns up again
.
She burns it, it doesn't matter, it's still there.
So I'm not sure where theorigins of the book are.
And then the stuff she'swatching on TV is very
interesting, the TV shows she'swatching occasionally although
(27:09):
we get a nice shout out forSkippy the Bush Kangaroo on
there which is quite good.
I'm always chuffed to see Skippythe Bush, kangaroo and some of
the imagery on the TV shows andthings like that was interesting
and I think some of the imageryfor the entity or the Babadook
itself was taken from like somevery early horror films in the
(27:32):
20s and 30s and 40s, that sortof thing.
There was also talk thatJennifer Kent early on wanted to
film the whole thing in blackand white, which would have been
a very interesting way to watchthe movie as well if it was in
black and white, because thatjust changes the whole thing.
But I just find this so much tounpack with this movie that
(27:53):
it's just like almost notoverwhelming but it almost feels
like that, like I said, thatfirst night you go to bed and
you just laid in bed thinkingabout it.
Anna (28:02):
Yeah, exactly.
And if we looked at Amelia'ssister, her relationship with
her nephew, I just don't thinkshe understood Sam as an
individual.
She didn't actually want tobecause he was I don't want to
use the word different.
He was very creative, he wasvery down to earth, whereas her
(28:22):
family were all about the looksand the shoes and the princess
dresses for the daughter was allvery materialistic, whereas
Amelia and Sam didn't have thatmaterial life.
It's almost like the sisterswere at two different ends of
the scale.
The sister was so wrapped up inherself and I know that Amelia
had sort of how can I put it?
(28:44):
She'd drawn on her sister'senergy a lot and probably she'd
got sick of hearing the same oldstory all the time.
But Amelia really wasstruggling.
You think her sister would havetaken her off to see a
psychologist.
There would have been some sortof intervention.
It was really obvious that sheneeded mental health care and
(29:04):
we're Sam with the tablets.
You'd think that the doctorwould have said well, look, we
need to book you in to see apsychologist to help you work
through your grief.
Have you seen a grief counselor?
Because Sam couldn't sleep,because he was protecting his
mum from what was in the housebecause he knew it wanted to get
to her.
But how does a young boyexplain that to their parent or
(29:28):
to the lady next door?
Now, we didn't talk about thelady next door.
I got sort of sidetracked, as Ido when I talk about the
paranormal.
I just feel like she was agrounding figure throughout this
whole movie because it spends alot of time in the ether, you
know, talking about the darknessand about energy and about
vibration and about this denseenergy.
(29:49):
She was almost like a groundingforce, like that earthly
grandma sort of figure thatwould be there for Sam if he
needed someone.
So I just feel like she was anice old lady next door who was
lonely herself and that reallyenjoyed Sam's company.
Pete (30:07):
You can see that at the end, like that final, one of the
final scenes where he'sobviously been staying with her
when she comes home from work.
I think actually in a movie asdark as this you kind of need a
character like that to kind ofjust bring some a bit of
normalcy into it and to make itlike, oh okay, when she's around
there's nothing really badgoing on and she has their
(30:29):
interests at heart.
The other scene that'sinteresting and I guess it's the
only blooper I can remember inthe whole film is when Sam
pushes his cousin out of thecubby house when they're having
that argument and she's beingabsolutely terrible to him and
her mother's not having a bar ofit.
When it all happens she's justlike oh, it's all Sam's problem,
(30:51):
it's all his problem, he's theone.
But she was standing theretelling him in that house, a
six-year-old boy.
She was telling him, as kids do, I guess, that you know you
don't have a dad, you're notspecial, blah, blah, blah, etc.
And he pushes her out.
The only blooper I saw in thefilm is she falls out, I think
backwards, but is forwards whenshe's on the ground.
When he comes out and he sayshe's making his excuse to why he
(31:16):
pushed her out, then the girl'smother or Amelia's sister is
not having a bar of it.
She's just like there'ssomething wrong with you.
I'm not listening to whatyou're doing, what you're saying
and that's it.
She's got no time for him atall, like you were saying.
Anna (31:32):
No, well, it's Mummy's little princess never does
anything wrong.
She can say whatever she likesand she can hurt whatever she
you know whichever person thatshe likes through her words.
But I mean, what Sam did waswrong.
Pushing her was wrong.
But children and adults willreact in a split second if they
are triggered.
(31:52):
She knew she was her mother'sdaughter to a T Even at the age
of six.
She was quite nasty for a sixyear old.
Obviously parent modelinghadn't been very good.
So she triggered Sam in such away because he'd had trauma in
his life.
He's still got trauma, he'sdead.
He's dead.
His mum's unwell.
(32:13):
The lady next door is sort oflike a grandmother figure, which
is helpful.
But he just reacted like anyonewould react in that split
second, especially a child.
They're not going to thinkfirst oh, if I push her she's
going to fall out.
He was reacting because of whatshe said and if the mother was
(32:33):
decent she would have asked bothsides of the story.
Well, actually you shouldn'thave said that to Sam.
You are just as much at faultas he is.
But she was just so one-sidednot even interested.
They're totally differentpeople.
Pete (32:48):
Well, there's even the point where obviously they've
had both their birthdays at thesame time every year, the two
cousins.
And then it comes to the pointwhere Amelia asks her about what
do you want me to do for thisupcoming party?
You want me to get the cake orsomething.
And then she has to tell herwell, I'm not going to do that
this year, I just want mydaughter to have her own party,
(33:12):
which in a way I kind of agreewith as well, because it's like
Amelia really needs to like tomove on, but like she probably
should have had that help to doso.
And it was very interesting thatat the end of the movie she
actually is celebrating hisbirthday on the right day Almost
a happy ending in a way.
Sam really dies in this movieexcept, like obviously, the
(33:36):
father, but you knew that beforethe movie even started.
It's really interesting howthey have taken this great
journey through this film and atthe end she's kind of almost
content with the world.
She looks like she's back atwork, she looks better in
general, she seems more incontrol.
Like you said, there's thatscene that you love where she
(33:57):
kind of just stands up toeverything, yeah, and really and
really owns it, and I thinkthat's where she takes control.
And once she takes control,then she's empowered and she's
happier and she's got this thing, this entity, kind of under her
control.
Or is it just there?
It's quite happy to be livinglike that now because she's he's
(34:20):
getting attention or whateverit is getting attention, even if
it is just eating worms.
Anna (34:25):
You know you took the words right out of my mouth, as
you were saying on that I'mgoing.
This whole movie, as dark as itwas, and some of the things
that did happen, the whole thingmade her a stronger human being
.
She actually took control ofher life and went.
You know what?
I'm not going to live like this.
(34:46):
I know you're here, you'regoing to be staying here, for
whatever reason that is.
We're going to have to getalong.
So we're going to have tocompromise.
So she compromised with ademonic level being.
It stayed in the basement.
She fed it what she could Notthat she probably needed to feed
it anything anyway, becauseit's an energy being, but we
(35:06):
won't go there with that.
I think that was more a.
That was more an offering.
That was more giving it anoffering.
As you know, I appreciate you.
I know you're here.
We need to kind of look aftereach other and I feel like she
actually had a sense ofcompassion for this being.
(35:27):
I mean quite often when I workwith.
I work with clearing thesedemonic beings from people.
Like I said before, they'llcome through the courting that I
create.
I clear them for whateverthey're attached to within me,
because they're only interestedin the emotions.
I clear that away.
They go back out in theenvironment.
You don't harm them.
You don't disrespect them.
I work very respectfully withthese beings because you've got
(35:50):
to remember, there are millionsof them out there and I've had
experiences in the early dayswhere if you're rude to them or
you try to do somethinginappropriate, there is a
backlash, there is retaliation.
So I've learned that what I putout with them, the way I treat
them, is generally what I getback.
So that's what Amelia did.
Is that she, this thing,retreated to the basement
(36:12):
because it was a dark place?
It could be down there and inexist in.
I actually think there was aportal down there too, but
that's a topic for another.
I think maybe it used to comeand go through the basement,
which is very dark in that backcorner, but I think it just
liked her.
For whatever reason, it felt aconnection to her energy for
(36:33):
some reason.
Like you said, there's a lot tounpack in this movie.
It's more than what you see onthe surface.
Pete (36:40):
Absolutely, that's like I said, had a lot to do with my
five hours sleep, the usualseven or eight.
The final thing I say about thismovie that is so good is that
it's super chilling.
It's quite scary in parts, it'sdisturbing, but the best part
that I remember is never oncethat I can recall did the movie
(37:02):
resort to jump scares.
I don't think there's one jumpscare in this movie.
You know I'm talking about thejump scare, right?
So there's nothing.
It's just, it's all atmosphereand just disturbing themes and
things like that.
That makes it frightening and Ithink that's what makes a great
movie.
Great is that, especially witha horror film, because horror
(37:23):
films rely like, if you've seenin CDS or any of those movies,
those movies really rely on jumpscares, like really quiet and
then some bang or something likethat, whereas this movie really
there was banging and things,but it wasn't kind of done in
such a way to make you jump, itwasn't, it was just there, if
you know what I mean.
Anna (37:42):
So I think that's what elevates this movie above some
others and well, I always say topeople that there's a
difference between the horrorparanormal movies and true
paranormal movies, which is whatthe Baba Dook is.
It is purely psychological andit's actually very real.
(38:03):
So this is what I like and thisis why my podcast is called
perfectly paranormal, becauseit's normal, it's just a normal
part of our life and you can seeit in Amelia.
This being is in her house.
Her son is interacting with it.
She's interacting with it.
It's causing all sorts oftrauma.
This is what they do.
A lot of those other movies youmight get, like the ones we've
(38:26):
mentioned, you might get maybe10% of it is what I would call
real paranormal.
The rest of it's what I callparanormal drama, which is what
people want.
They don't want the real stuff.
They want the drama stuffthat's going to give them the
jump, scares and the fear and soforth, because that's horror
but that's not real paranormal.
Pete (38:47):
All right.
So that was talk, a very goodconversation around the Babadook
, which I loved.
You loved it Absolutely, you'regonna.
You said you're gonna watch itagain, so it's great.
I'll probably watch it againfor sure, because I like there's
still so much that I want toget out of it and I think movies
like that really benefit frommultiple watches.
(39:07):
So looking forward to that.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour podcast and what your
latest episodes all about.
Anna (39:16):
Ah, they can find you.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I talked a little bit aboutthat during our interview, is
that?
Pete (39:22):
that's right.
This is the official plugsection.
Anna (39:25):
Oh sorry.
So here we go.
So I work is what I call aparanormal house clearer.
So I'm based in Tasmania inAustralia and I work worldwide.
I'm actually starting a job inFlorence, italy, tomorrow.
All you need is the permissionof the person who owns the
property photos, floor plans anda couple of other things and I
(39:46):
can enter that propertyenergetically and clear the
energy presences that are therethat shouldn't be there.
It's fascinating work.
So my podcast is based onsharing real life experiences.
I always change people's namesand locations if I ever mention
a location, and usually thegender, so you're going to find
(40:08):
it really hard to pinpoint it toa particular person if you
think you know who they are.
Because it's all about sharingthe experiences.
To make it relatable, just aswe've talked about in the
Babadook, is that what Ameliawent through is actually very
relevant to real life.
So I take the paranormal inreality.
(40:31):
I don't do the horror, don't dothe jump scares.
What I talk about is no fear.
In what I talk about through mypodcast it's very relatable.
I do make it slightly notdramatic.
I suppose I'm a Leo, so I'mslightly dramatic.
I make it interesting, butthere's none of the fear based.
There's no go.
I mean, I've got 10 year oldswatching it, their mums
(40:54):
listening to it, their mums letthem listen to it because then
they can understand about theparanormal world around us, and
I share lots of what the signsand symptoms are, how these
beings affect you, so that youcan notice in your environment
when things change or you gointo a place and all of a sudden
you don't feel well, yourstomach's hurting, your head's
(41:17):
hurting, your vision's blurry,all these sorts of symptoms.
It's just a bad awareness.
So I'm all about educatingpeople about the paranormal
world that is around us.
Pete (41:29):
I found it really accessible, the episodes I've
listened to, and I also thinkit's great that you don't go
straight for the paranormalstuff in the way that you always
say and I think you mentionedthis earlier today is see a
doctor, see a psychologist or apsychiatrist, then we'll talk
(41:49):
about it.
So, in other words, let's makesure there's no other issues
there, then we can go from there.
Absolutely, what's your latestepisode?
Is it the one I listened to?
Anna (41:59):
It's episode 32 and it's all about possession.
I talk about three or fourdifferent stories that I've
experienced of possessionthrough my many years of doing
this work, and it's all veryrelatable.
I mean, there's nothing scaryabout the way I talk about this
and this is why I find that it'shard to promote it, because
(42:20):
everyone wants they all want theparanormal drama.
Pete (42:24):
You're on socials.
Can people contact you onsocials?
I have Instagram.
Anna (42:28):
I also have a website and I can send you those details if
you like.
Pete (42:33):
Yeah, that'd be great because I'll put them in the
show notes.
Anna (42:35):
Yeah, that'd be lovely.
Pete (42:37):
Well, thanks so much for coming on.
It's been great talking to you.
Anna (42:40):
You're welcome.
I've loved it.
Pete (42:41):
I can always talk about the paranormal, anytime I know,
I can tell, and when we returnwe'll be talking about what's
coming up next.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
And now preview time.
When it comes to entertainment,you can't beat a good film, so
let's take a look at what'scoming your way, what we see and
(43:13):
what we seem about a dream, adream within a dream.
You must learn to love someoneelse apart from me.
Sarah, I won't be here muchlonger.
(43:34):
Good morning, girls, Goodmorning.
Anna (43:52):
Mrs Appanella.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Well, young ladies, we are indeed fortunate in the
weather for our picnic toHanging Rock.
I have instructed ma'am Wazellethere's, the day is likely to
be warm.
You may remove your gloves oncethe drag has passed through
wood end.
We'll partake of luncheon atthe picnic grounds near the rock
.
Once again, let me remind you,the rock itself is extremely
dangerous.
You are therefore forbidden anytomboy foolishness in the
(44:16):
matter of exploration, even onthe lowest slopes.
Pete (44:39):
Miranda, miranda, miranda, don't go on there, come back
Next up on A Dingo.
At my Movie I'm joined by avery good friend of the show,
(44:59):
tab, and we'll be talking aboutPeter Wears.
Mysterious and Haunting Picnicat Hanging Rock from 1975.
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