Image: The Movie DB
About This Quiz
This Australian horror film was a nerve-wracking tale of domestic horror, like a mash-up of "The Sixth Sense," "The Others" and "Paranormal Activity." Now, test your recall of this nail-biting film with our quiz!
What is the main character's name?
Amelia
Amelia is an old-fashioned name, and the actress who played Amelia can probably sympathize: her first name is Essie. She's Essie Davis, to be exact.
Corinne
Judy
Sophia
What is her son's name?
Christopher
Joshua
Samuel
Samuel is rambunctious, with an overactive imagination. This tires out his working single mother, even before the mayhem starts.
Will
Where does Amelia work?
a bank
a library
a nursing home
In one scene, Amelia gets bored during a game of bingo and calls out the impossible number, "five billion." Only afterward does she see her supervisor scowling at her.
a zoo
Advertisement
What was the name of Amelia's late husband?
Christopher
Samuel
Oskar
Though Samuel's father is evidently Australian, like Amelia, his family must have Eastern European roots. This is indicated by his last name, Vanek, and the spelling of his name.
Walt
Samuel's father died on what significant night?
Christmas Eve
his and Amelia's anniversary
the night Samuel was conceived
the night Samuel was born
Oskar died in a car crash while the two were en route to the hospital. It's hard to believe that a car crash fatal to him still allowed Amelia to give birth to a completely healthy child, but that's the movie's premise.
What is Samuel's hobby?
gardening
rock-collecting
magic
Samuel loves magic and tries to do tricks. His other obsession, much less healthy, is his fear of monsters.
painting
Advertisement
With whom does Samuel celebrate a joint birthday?
Amelia
his aunt Claire
his cousin Ruby
As mentioned, Samuel's birthday is also the date of his father's death. Amelia celebrates it on Ruby's birthday instead.
his birthday is not celebrated
What relation is "Auntie Claire" to Amelia?
her sister
her brother's wife
Oskar's sister
this is never made clear
Any one of the three choices above would make Claire the "auntie" of Samuel. The least likely choice is that she's Amelia's sister, because the two don't seem genuinely close and Claire isn't very supportive.
Why is Samuel expelled from his school?
he cheated on an exam
he brought a dart gun to school
Technically, Sam isn't expelled. But the schoolmaster wants to separate him from other students and assign him a monitor, which Amelia can't bear the thought of. So she withdraws him from school.
he pushed a girl off the slide
he fights incessantly with other boys
Advertisement
What does Amelia object to the schoolmaster calling her son?
Sammy
"Oskar's son"
"the boy"
After the schoolmaster uses this term several times to refer to him, Amelia bursts out with, "Stop calling him that! His name is Samuel!"
Sam
Finish the rhyme: "Whether it's in a book, or it's in a look, you ___________."
"just can't hide from the Babadook."
"can't run away from the Babadook."
"can't get rid of the Babadook"
This sentence appears in the picture book. Its specific phrasing will be important to the movie's climax.
"can't help but love the Babadook."
In the first pages of the book, the Babadook claims to be what?
"a nightmare come to life"
"a monster in the dark"
"an utter fright to see"
"a friend of you and me"
The book starts out as though the Babadook is a funny, friendly creature ... then turns scary. Amelia tries to stop reading, but Samuel insists, "But you said I could choose (a book)."
Advertisement
Where does the book, "Mister Babadook," come from?
it was a family heirloom of Oskar's
Ruby gave it to Sam in secret
Amelia found it in an old bookshop
we never learn this
Amelia would never have bought such a disturbing book for her impressionable son. Yet there it is on Sam's bookshelf one night -- so we're led to believe that its origin is supernatural.
What does Amelia find in the back of the book?
several blank pages
Those blank pages aren't going to stay blank forever. But the first version of the book Amelia reads ends abruptly with "You're going to wish you were DEAD!" Cheery!
a receipt for its purchase
a photo of herself and Oskar
a bloodstain
What does Amelia do with the book after reading it?
puts it on top of the closet
Amelia takes increasingly drastic measures to get the book out of their lives. Later, she rips it up and puts it in the trash, and even later burns it on a barbecue.
burns it
rips it up and puts it into the trash
takes it to a bookshop to ask about it
Advertisement
What ailment does their next-door neighbor suffer from?
Crohn's Disease
migraines
Parkinson's Disease
Mrs. Roach is one of the few characters in the movie who is kind to Amelia and Sam. Almost everywhere else, they are treated with impatience and anger.
tinnitus
Who is Bugsy?
the family dog
If only Samuel did have an invisible friend! It might have helped him a lot with his anxieties.
the family cat
Amelia's co-worker with a crush
Samuel's invisible friend
What does Samuel do at Ruby's birthday party?
scares girls with tales of the Babadook
insults one of the mothers
pushes Ruby out of her treehouse
To be fair, Ruby was being awful to Samuel. Meanwhile, it was Amelia who mocked one of the mothers, finding her complaints about not having time for the gym as spoiled compared to Amelia's life of endless work.
delights the girls with magic tricks
Advertisement
How does the doctor explain Sam's fit in the backseat of the car?
as a hallucination
as a febrile convulsion
Earlier, Sam became hysterical, yelling "Don't let it in!" over and over before becoming non-responsive. Amelia stops the car and gets help from passers-by.
as early-onset schizophrenia
as an extreme sugar high
What does Amelia find in her soup?
black hairs
red thread
pieces of glass
Amelia finds the glass only in her soup, not Samuel's. She also finds a disfigured photo of herself and Oskar on her bed -- harassment by the Babadook that she suspects Sam of doing.
a tooth
After the mysterious knocking, what does Amelia find on her doorstep?
a bouquet of white flowers
her dog, dead
the "Mister Babadook" book
The pages that Amelia tore up have been restored. Worse, the blank pages are now filled in with threatening words and pictures.
a Babadook doll
Advertisement
What, according to the new pages in the book, makes the Babadook stronger?
denial
The exact wording goes: "I'll make you a wager; I'll make you a bet. The more you deny, the stronger I get."
fear
loneliness
pride
The illustrations on the new pages show Amelia killing whom?
Bugsy and Samuel
Bugsy, Samuel and herself
The pop-up illustrations here are really creepy. The final one has Amelia drawing a knife across her throat, and then red jags of paper, representing blood, descending.
Samuel and Ruby
Samuel and herself
Why can't the police help Amelia with her "stalker"?
she burned the book
Amelia's main piece of evidence is the threatening pictures in the book. Unfortunately, with those up in smoke, there's not much the police can do.
she has no recording of the phone call
she cannot give the police a name for her stalker
she's been in too many times with other complaints
Advertisement
What does Oskar, in the basement, ask Amelia to do?
kill herself
kill Robbie, her suitor from the nursing home
bring Samuel to him
Oskar, played by Ben Winspear, looks like the kindest, most decent husband in the world. But his repeated suggestion -- "You can bring me the boy" -- tells us this is no benign ghost.
kill Samuel
What was the last thing Oskar said before he died?
"We're almost there."
"I think it's going to rain."
Oskar's last words are very innocent, which makes them sound even more chilling. We hear them at several points throughout the movie. (Bonus points if you know "That guy's got to stop. He'll see us" were James Dean's reported last words)
"I love you."
"That guy's got to stop. He'll see us."
Who ties Amelia up in the basement?
a burglar
Samuel
Samuel's been a basket case for a lot of the movie. But when his mother is possessed by the Babadook, he really pulls it together to fight back.
Mrs. Roach
herself, while possessed by the Babadook
Advertisement
How does Amelia kill the Babadook?
by kissing the monster on the cheek
by pouring salt on it
by reading the book aloud and laughing at it
she doesn't
This is where the phrase "You can't get rid of the Babadook" becomes important. In the end, Amelia chases the monster down to the basement and locks it in. The best she can hope for is to control it.
What does Amelia feed the Babadook?
blood
earthworms
Near the movie's end, Sam is helping her gather the earthworms. Unlike in most of the film, mother and son are now working together to cope with their fears.
flowers
bread crusts
In his magic trick in the garden, what does Sam make appear?
a coin
a dove
a bunch of flowers
both #1 and #2
The coin is the kind of trick you'd expect a seven-year-old to do, but the dove seems too sophisticated for a young child. Is this a hint that having the Babadook in the basement is giving Sam some kind of special powers?
Advertisement
Throughout the movie, how many people does the Babadook kill?
one
two
three
zero
Only the dog, Bugsy, dies. Otherwise, "The Babadook" wrings a great deal of terror out of a story in which no one is actually killed.
Who directed "The Babadook"?
Sam Raimi
Jennifer Kent
She went to drama school with Essie Davis, the film's star. Kent tired of an acting career and learned filmmaking by assisting Lars von Trier on "Dogville."
James Wan
Kevin Greutert
Which famous director from the '70s and '80s called "The Babadook" the most terrifying film he'd ever seen?
William Friedkin
Friedkin compared the film favorably to three classics: "Psycho," "Alien" and "Diabolique." (We'll trust he meant the originals of "Psycho" and "Diabolique," both remade to poor critical reception.)
Tobe Hooper
George Lucas
Stanley Kubrick
Advertisement
What color is the rose near Amelia in the garden?
black
Naturally, this led to a lot of fan speculation about its meaning. Black roses can symbolize death, but they are also beautiful, so this could mean Amelia is dealing with her grief in a good way.
white
yellow
red
To promote the film, the studio sold 9,500 of what item?
extended-cut versions of the film
Babadook dolls
Babadook Halloween costumes
"Mister Babadook" pop-up books
Enjoy, little ones! Just kidding: The text was said to be different from what was in the movie. And it has to be said, the artwork in the book was beautiful.
You Got:
/35
The Movie DB