What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe Babadook
Jennifer Kent · Film · 2014
If you loved The Babadook, start with Baby Reindeer (Richard Gadd, 2024) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The Babadook across media.
You were drawn to The Babadook because of how it masterfully uses supernatural dread to mirror the crushing weight of unresolved personal trauma.
Books on the same thread
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson · Book · 1987
Shares a thread with The Babadook: Psychological Horror.
Like The Babadook, this gothic classic explores how a decaying environment acts as a physical manifestation of the protagonist's fracturing sanity and deep-seated fears regarding their own isolation.
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath · Book · 1972
Shares a thread with The Babadook: Mental Illness.
If the psychological unraveling in The Babadook resonated with you, this narrative provides a similarly raw, unflinching look at the mental breakdown of a woman struggling against societal expectations.
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe · Book · 2015
Shares 3 threads with The Babadook: Guilt, Paranoia, Psychological Horror.
This selection captures the same suffocating paranoia found in The Babadook, focusing on how a singular, obsessive guilt can consume a person until they lose their grip on reality.
The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins · Book · 2015
Explores: Unreliable Narrator, Alcoholism, Infidelity.
The Babadook excels at making the domestic sphere feel dangerous, and this thriller mirrors that tension by forcing you to question the reliability of a protagonist burdened by regret.
Series on the same thread
The Haunting of Hill House
Mike Flanagan · Series · 2018
Shares 3 threads with The Babadook: Trauma, Mental Illness, Grief.
Much like the family dynamic in The Babadook, this series illustrates how the haunting memories of a past tragedy can literally and figuratively dismantle a family from the inside.
Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge · Series · 2016
Shares a thread with The Babadook: grief.
While darker in tone, this show shares the central exploration of grief seen in The Babadook, presenting a woman who must confront her internal demons to survive her own existence.
Baby Reindeer
Richard Gadd · Series · 2024
Shares a thread with The Babadook: Trauma.
The Babadook depicts the terrifying intersection of vulnerability and obsession, a theme that drives this narrative as a simple act of kindness spirals into a suffocating, life-altering psychological nightmare.
Servant
Tony Basgallop · Series · 2019
Shares 2 threads with The Babadook: Grief, Guilt.
This series mirrors the specific brand of domestic horror in The Babadook, where the profound grief of losing a child creates a volatile space where the supernatural can thrive.
Podcasts on the same thread
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts · Podcast · 2026
Explores: mental health awareness, female friendship, coping mechanisms.
If you appreciated the way The Babadook centers on the female experience of trauma, this podcast offers a community-driven look at how we process fear and mental health through storytelling.
Pretkotha (Bengali Horror Podcast)
Podcast
Explores: paranormal events, ghost stories, real-life experiences.
Just as The Babadook uses folklore to ground its horror in real-world pain, these stories utilize the supernatural to explore the genuine, haunting experiences that linger in our daily lives.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Babadook a film about a haunted children's book?
Yes, The Babadook follows a grieving single mother and her child who encounter an eerie children's book that manifests in their home, leading the family into a deep well of paranoia.
Who directed The Babadook?
The Babadook is a 2014 movie written and directed by Jennifer Kent. It focuses on the psychological deterioration of a mother and her child after they discover a mysterious book.
What is the primary conflict in The Babadook?
The central conflict in The Babadook involves a grieving single mother and her child struggling against an eerie children's book that manifests in their home, causing them to fall into a deep state of paranoia.
When was The Babadook released?
The Babadook was released in 2014. The film depicts the story of a grieving mother and her child who experience intense paranoia following the arrival of a strange children's book in their home.