William Friedkin offers to host a screening of Jennifer Kent’s fairytale horror, which he says ‘will scare the hell out of you as it did me’

The Oscar-winning director of The Exorcist, William Friedkin, has declared critically acclaimed Australian horror The Babadook the most terrifying film he has ever seen.

Taking to Twitter, the veteran US film-maker compared writer-director Jennifer Kent’s mesmerising fairytale chiller to notable zeitgeist-changing classics of the horror genre. “Psycho, Alien, Diabolique, and now THE BABADOOK,” he tweeted, adding: “I’ve never seen a more terrifying film than THE BABADOOK. It will scare the hell out of you as it did me.”

Warming to his theme, Friedkin offered to host a screening of the film and berated US distributor IFC Films for failing to secure enough cinema screens for the movie. The Babadook is now available to view on demand in north America after opening on limited release at the weekend. The film hit UK cinemas on 24 October and is still screening in iconic locations such as the Empire in Leicester Square.

The Observer’s Mark Kermode has compared the horror to Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin and labelled it a “nightmarish fairytale about enchanted books and accursed dreams”, which will “make your skin crawl, your pulse quicken and the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention”.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linda Blair in William Friedkin’s 1973 horror classic The Exorcist. Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex

The Babadook is the story of a widow, played by acclaimed Australian stage actor Essie Davis, plagued by memories of her husband’s violent death. After discovering a mysterious new story book on the shelves of her six-year-old son’s bedroom wall, she comes to believe that his visions of a sinister fairytale monster – the relentless Babadook – may be real.

Friedkin’s intervention is not the only sign that Kent’s debut feature may be moving out from under the radar, and perhaps even towards a late run for awards season contention. It was named best first film at the New York Film Critics Circle awards on 2 December and has also picked up a number of festival awards.