Scream queen: horror star Essie Davis on ‘the year’s most terrifying trailer’

Essie Davis plays widowed mother Amelia in this years terrifying psychological thriller The Babadook
It’s a scream: Australian actress Essie Davis (Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis/Newspix/Rex)
Julie Kiriacoudis/Newspix/Rex
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The star of horror movie The Babadook that critics say has “the most terrifying trailer of the year” told of her surprise that people were “wailing” in fear at a screening.

Actress Essie Davis, 40, who plays widowed mother Amelia in the psychological horror film, said she found it “moving”.

The film follows Amelia and her six-year-old son Samuel, who is plagued by disturbing dreams about The Babadook — a sinister monster who, according to the child, is plotting to kill him.

As Samuel’s dreams get more vivid and twisted, Amelia herself spots the creature and realises her son’s nightmares may actually be founded in reality.

Terrifying: Essie Davis as the terrified mother Amelia in The Babadook

Davis, who also starred in Australia and Girl With A Pearl Earring, said: “I didn’t find it scary. It isn’t scary — or at least I don’t think so. But when it was screened at Sundance, people were screaming. Really high-pitched wailing screams.

“Perhaps I know too much about the making of the film to be scared by it. But it moved me. It is a story about the power of love. It is about the bravery of a child and the love of a parent.”

The trailer for The Babadook, directed by Jennifer Kent, was watched by half a million people last weekend alone — with some calling it “the most terrifying trailer of the year”.

The film, rated 15, will be released on October 24. It will also be screened at Vue West End on Saturday August 23 as part of Film 4’s annual FrightFest.

The festival will also mark the start of the Shortcuts To Hell II competition, where filmmakers pitch their ideas for a short film in a bid to win £20,000 to turn it into a full-length feature.

London’s Clockpunk Films hopes its short film Geoffrey’s Heart will be chosen. It is about a boy who develops cannibalistic tendencies following heart surgery.

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