HORROR BUSINESS Episode 83: BLACK SWAN & THE BABADOOK

Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys. In this episode we’re talking about 2010’s Black Swan and 2014’s The Babadook. First and foremost, we want to give a shoutout to our sponsors over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Also, thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally grateful for that support. Thanks! We start by talking about what we’ve done involving horror recently. We talk about the recent Shudder original film Host, and Liam talks about the film All The Colors Of The Dark. Up first is Black Swan. We give a brief summary of the film, and we talk about how the film wasn’t initially referred to as a horror film because of Aronofsky’s reputation. We briefly talk about the nature of Darren Aronofsky’s work, and Liam posits that he essentially makes well crafted exploitation films. We talk about some of the more visually arresting and horrifying scenes of the film. We touch upon Aronofsky’s tendency of cruelty towards his female characters, and how the film is largely a more stylish body horror film. We return to Aronofsky’s lack of interest in fleshed out characters and how he’s more interested in caricatures of people. The horror one’s own self is discussed, and we talk about how whether or not what we’re witnessing is “real” is completely meaningless in regard to enjoying this film. We briefly discuss the concept of “camp” and the idea of “the Showgirls paradox”. The idea of Vincent Cassel’s character as an effigy for Aranofsky as a director is touched upon. We talk about the horror of questioning your own sanity and being unable to trust your own perception of things. We briefly discuss the concept of “perfection” and how it relates to cultural conditioning and tradition. Up next is The Babadook. We talk about how the film might hit harder for people who have special needs people in their lives. Liam points out how the film goes through three phases: spooky kid, psychotic woman, and then monster movie. Liam talks about how his experience of the film has changed since becoming a parent in that he feels more empathy for the child. Justin talks about how the police station scene is the most upsetting scene in the film for him. We talk about the very sweet concept of Sam, the child in the film, still feeling an unyielding love for his mother even though she repeatedly declares that she hates him, and how that is both tender and a source of horror. Justin discusses how he relates personally to the end of the film and how it’s a very effective metaphor for dealing with trauma and mental illness. We talk about how the films ending is far more effective than most classic horror films in that it shows that pain and suffering continues on and there is no simple fix for a complex issue. We talk about the intensity and effectiveness of the main performances in the film. We conclude by talking about how Essie Davis is “miserably horny” in this film and how that relates to depression destroying the libido. First and foremost, thank you for listening. Special thanks to our good friend Dana for recommending these movies. Thank you to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers!  Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!