Essie David Makes This Movie For Me

Rating: 9/10 (16 October 2018)

I am not very familiar with the actress, who plays the mother in this movie. It is a good film of course, but I did not find it that terrifying, although maybe I should have. I probably have just seen too many scary movies. Thing is, Essie David is utterly TERRIFYING in this! She starts off a tad unhinged, but is crazier as each scene goes on! It's insane and I did not expect this. Maybe this is an unfair comparison, but this film was WAAYYY better than Hereditary was, and I did not like that movie very much as is, but Essie David's performance blows Toni Collette's out of the water, and that is saying a lot, because Collette's performance was pretty spot on, in a movie I did not even like... Essie's performance when the Babadook possessed her was FLAWLESS!!! Her facial expressions and her entire performance was animal-istic! I do not think we get to see this sort of thing that often! Also, nobody physically portrayed the Babadook in this movie... This entity was just a matter of phenomenal camera work, special effects, sound effects, some props, editing, and the performances of David and her young child actor co-star. This film has nothing to do with cults or anything like that. This is simply an evil entity in the disguise of a fairy tale from a pop-up kids book.