BabaSHOOK! From Film Fright to Gay Icon

After talking to several fiends, no one seems to remember the hilarious journey that Mister Babadook took from horror film monster to gay icon. Here's how it happened. Happy Pride 2023!

FOOTNOTES

1. "The Babadook is a gay icon because of a Netflix clerical error" by Julia Alexander (Polygon.com, 06/02/2023); https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/8/15762144/babadook-gay-icon

2. "Inside the Babadiscourse: How 'The Babadook' Became a Queer Icon" by Diana Tourjée (Vice.com, 06/08/2017); https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywzwej/inside-the-babadiscourse-how-the-babadook-became-a-queer-icon

3. "The Babadook: how the horror movie monster became a gay icon" by Elle Hunt (The Guardian.com, 06/11/2017); https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/11/the-babadook-how-horror-movie-monster-became-a-gay-icon

4. "The Babadook Creator Finally Acknowledges Her Character Becoming a Gay Icon" by Julie Miller (Vanity Fair, 01/30/2019); https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/01/the-babadook-movie-gay-icon

5. "Queer Icon The Babadook Receives Limited-Edition Pride Month Blu-ray" by Halle Kiefer (Vulture, 06/03/2019); https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/the-babadook-receives-limited-edition-pride-month-blu-ray.html

6. "The Babadook" film poster (IFC Films, 2014)

7. "Get Ready to be Babashook" illustration by Muffinpines (Instagram @muffinpines)

8. Director Jennifer Kent. Credit: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/Shut. Copyright ©2019

9. "The Babadook" Limited Edition Pride Slipcase edition by IFC Midnight & Scream Factory.

10. "Mister Babadook" illustration by Alexander Juhasz ('Mister Babadook' Pop-up Book, Insight Editions, 2016).