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Don’t be Afraid of The Dark: What’s in the Dark?
Director Guillermo Del Toro certainly knows about the things that scare people, especially kids. He’s proven it in movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy. Now he’s the screenplay writer (together with Matthew Robbins) of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a movie about something which scares most people—the dark. In this scary movie, Guillermo and director Troy Nixey answer the ultimate question: “What’s hiding in the darkness after the lights are turned off?”
In the horror movie, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, there’s a mystery that’s discovered by a family. A young girl who moves into a new house with her father and stepmother uncovers an old secret which may endanger her life —just like what’s happened to others in the past. Paintings on walls covered with dusty sheets are found. The images show a child apparently being dragged by clawed hands into the earth. Could these creatures be hiding in the nooks and crannies of the house? They definitely are! The family is about to find out about them the hard way and it’s going to be one “hell” of an experience for them and movie audiences.
The scary creatures in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark are Homunculi, which are small, human-like beings that are supposed to be intelligent. In this movie, they are more of a mischievous threat. They only care about their objective, which is to take children as their own and drag them to wherever they live. At first, they seem friendly enough, but that’s only how the little creatures seem at first. Later in the movie, they show just how nasty they can be. Their mean and evil nature surfaces when they get to business with the child.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011), is actually a remake of a made-for-television horror movie shown in 1973. This new version has all the scary sequences that were typically used in 1970s horror films. These are the scenes that would either make you close your eyes or jump on your seats, after thinking, “No, don’t go there!” But of course, the characters don’t listen. They never do!
Unlike in the original film, the creatures in the new Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark are more realistic with the use of computer effects, and the sounds are scarier with the help of surround audio systems. Nixey, who is Del Toro’s protégé, debuts as a director in this movie. Apparently, he did a pretty good job because the MPAA gave Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark an R rating. When Del Toro asked the powers-that-be if there is something they could do for the movie to get a PG-13 rating, the answer he got was, “Why ruin a perfectly scary movie?”
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark must really be a very scary movie! It may be about children’s fears but it definitely isn’t for kids to watch! If you plan on viewing Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, watch it late at night in a movie house that’s far away from the urban din. You just might take the “frights” in the movie home with you after watching and you just might find yourself thinking twice about looking under the sheets as you try to sleep in the dark, alone in your room.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark stars, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, and Bailee Madison.
Horror movies don’t usually scare me. I still have to try this one. Thanks for sharing your review. Now, I’m curious.
Quite scary!
Sounds good
I still remember seeing the original as a child in the 70’s. It terrified me then and I can only hope this one does the same.
I always thought the original 1973 made for TV movie was the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why some people claim the creatures in the original aren’t creepy or look ‘dated’; it may’ve well been a happy accident of the low tech options available at the time, but in this case less is definitely more.
The creatures are incredibly creepy looking; if the film were made with a bigger budget they most likely would’ve killed it. It’s not a deep story; it only works because the creatures are so damn creepy.
I’ve seen the remake, and, considering the many ways they could’ve blew it, and the big shoes they had to fill, they did a pretty good job. The new film is very scary – in some ways scarier than the original – especially when you can’t see the creatures too clearly.
Here Where the original and the remake differ is when you DO see them clearly; in the original, the more clearly you saw them the creepier they looked. In the new one it’s just the opposite; they’re just nowhere near as creepy looking up close (even if they ate mote creepy acting). The most important thing in selling a creature as ‘real’ is the eyes. The real eyes of the costumes midget actors of the original made the creatures seem real, and the fact that their latex mask mouths didn’t move made them more, not less creepy. The shiny CGI eyes and moving mouths of the remake’s creatures looks cartoonish and decidedly less scary. So I that, andvthe fact that the new creatures apparently can be squashed whereas the original ones seemed unbound by physical constraints makes them less creepy.
Nevertheless, a good remake overall well worth seeing for fans of the original.