Dear David

Summary

“Dear David” follows Adam Ellis, a young comic artist whose online life takes a disturbing turn after he responds to internet trolls. Soon afterward, Adam begins suffering episodes of sleep paralysis and noticing unsettling activity in his home. When he starts documenting these experiences on social media, his posts attract a growing audience—and the attention of people who treat his frightening ordeal as entertainment. As the incidents become more intense, Adam begins to suspect that he is being haunted by the ghost of a dead child named David. The apparition appears in increasingly threatening circumstances, leaving Adam unsure whether he is confronting a genuine supernatural presence, the effects of sleep deprivation and fear, or something created by the pressure of constantly sharing his life online. His friends, colleagues, and followers offer varying degrees of support and skepticism as his private terror becomes a public spectacle. Augustus Prew plays Adam as an artist caught between vulnerability and self-awareness, while the surrounding characters reflect the competing demands of friendship, work, romantic relationships, and an audience hungry for the next frightening update. Their reactions help show how quickly sympathy can turn into curiosity, disbelief, or exploitation in the social-media age. Based on a viral Twitter thread, the film blends supernatural horror with a contemporary story about online harassment and the dangers of turning personal trauma into content. Its most effective ideas center on the blurred boundary between reality and storytelling, the isolating effects of digital attention, and the way fear can be amplified when strangers are watching, commenting, and demanding proof. “Dear David” is as interested in the psychology of being haunted as it is in the ghost itself, using sleep paralysis, internet culture, and the anxieties of creative life to build an uneasy atmosphere without disclosing where Adam’s ordeal ultimately leads.