“Dooba Dooba” - Film Review
Even with all the genres that exist to classify films, there’s one that remains difficult to categorize - the cult classic. The current definition is a bit murky – a film that didn’t make a large impact upon release, but found a fervent fan base in the following years. It’s interesting to watch a movie and in real time recognize that it’s surely heading down the path of becoming a cult classic. That’s not to say that this film isn’t already making waves, because it is, but you can just sense that Dooba Dooba is going to find its people and they’re going to be ravenous for more.
The words dooba dooba have no real meaning in the English language, but in the world of the film, they’re repeated over and over again as a warning of sorts. The entire film takes place in one house over the course of one night. A young babysitter, Amna (Amna Vegha), has taken an overnight job with a family that’s a little odd. The parents, Taylor (Erin O'Meara) and Wilson (Winston Haynes), can’t wait to get out the door, leaving Amna alone with their daughter, Monroe (Betsy Sligh). Watching Monroe is no run-of-the-mill babysitting gig as she’s a teenager who requires someone to be with her at all times. Amna learns that Monroe has lingering trauma from when she saw her brother murdered in the middle of the night by an intruder. This also explains why the house is filled with cameras and everyone has to walk around saying “dooba dooba.” The sound of unknown footsteps is a trigger for Monroe. Amna quickly learns that this babysitting experience will be very different from the ones she’s used to.
courtesy of the filmmakers
It seems as though the mind behind Dooba Dooba, Ehrland Hollingsworth, took every single convention of filmmaking and outwardly rejected them. The film is anti-establishment without ego. There’s no way around it, Dooba Dooba is weird. If Hollingsworth said the film was edited on Windows Movie Maker in 2007, I would wholeheartedly believe them. Dooba Dooba is a pastiche of Skinamarink’s unsettling tension, Paranormal Activity’s surveillance footage style, and a severely unhinged PowerPoint presentation. There’s not another film that comes to mind as a singular comparison, and that’s such a thrill. To watch such a unique voice unfold on screen is a rush that cannot be manufactured. Sure, some of the departures to the PowerPoint slides and various bits of archival footage don’t make much sense upon first viewing, but the images, days later, are still rattling around. There’s meaning that comes from all these bizarre additions to an already bizarre story, but it’ll likely take a few viewings to truly uncover.
In a time when it feels like many movies are trying to play it safe to appease the masses, Dooba Dooba makes its own path. The film’s low-fi sensibilities speak to the true heart of indie filmmaking and what can be accomplished with a small cast, a single setting, and so much passion. When Dooba Dooba ends you might not fully understand what you just watched, but one thing’s for certain; you want to watch it again.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, & YouTube. Check out Movies with My Dad, a new podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies.