Psycho's Movie Reviews #43: Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark! (2010)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2010 horror film written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro and directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey. It is a remake of the 1973 ABC made-for-television horror film of the same name. The film stars Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, and Bailee Madison, as a family moving into a 19th-century Rhode Island mansion, where the withdrawn daughter (Sally) begins to witness malevolent creatures that emerge from a sealed ash pit in the basement of the house. Jack Thompson, Alan Dale, Garry McDonald, and Julia Blake star in supporting roles.

An international co-production between the United States, Australia, and Mexico, it was filmed at the Drusilla Mansion in Mount Macedon and Melbourne (both in Victoria, Australia).

The film was released in the United States on August 26, 2011, by Miramax Films and FilmDistrict. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark has received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Holmes, Pearce and Madison's performances, direction, atmosphere and musical score, but criticized the lack of originality and jump scares. The film grossed $38.3 million against a $25 million budget.

Plot:

At Blackwood Manor in Providence County, Rhode Island in the 19th century, renowned wildlife painter Lord Blackwood summons his housekeeper to the basement where he reluctantly bludgeons her to death. He removes her teeth, as well as his own, and offers them to mysterious creatures inside an ash pit within an old fireplace; the creatures reject his offer and demand only the teeth of children. Blackwood begs for them to give back his kidnapped son, only to be dragged in by the creatures.

In present day, 8-year old Sally Hurst arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim, both restoring Blackwood Manor to put it on the market for their client. Sally is depressed due to her mother forcefully putting her in Alex's care and giving her copious amounts of Adderall. The creatures are awakened by a tune from the nightlight. The next day, Sally hears the creatures calling her name and follows the voices to a sealed fireplace. "BE AFRAID" is written in runes above it.

She opens the fireplace and finds one of the old housekeeper's teeth. The creatures prove to be hostile, stealing Alex's razor and shredding Kim's clothes. Alex blames Sally and finds a 19th-century silver coin in her possession, which she found under her pillow after the tooth disappeared. Sally sneaks to the basement to talk with the creatures, but Mr. Harris, one of the workers, sends her away and tries to seal the fireplace. The creatures brutally wound him and he is hospitalized.

Kim visits Harris in the hospital, who tells her to find the unpublished artwork of Lord Blackwood in the local library. The artwork is of a creature the librarian describes as being like tooth fairies, which sometimes turn a human into one of their own. Sally is attacked again by the creatures, the leader being a transformed Lord Blackwood. Kim finds an undiscovered mural painted by Blackwood, depicting his son being taken by the creatures. Sally is trapped in the library by the creatures, but fends them off using her camera flash since they are afraid of the light. She also manages to kill one of them.

Alex and Kim try to flee the house with Sally but they are all ambushed by the creatures and knocked out. When Sally wakes up, her feet have been tied, and the creatures are starting to drag her to the basement for her transformation. Kim awakens and frees Sally only to get caught herself in the ropes and break both her legs in a gruesome manner. The creatures drag Kim into the fireplace, as a distraught Sally crushes the creature who used to be Lord Blackwood to death. Alex and Sally mourn Kim's loss.

Some time later, both return to the abandoned mansion to leave a drawing of Kim there. After they leave, a draft pulls the drawing into the creatures' lair; the entrance is now bolted with metal. The caring Kim has been transformed. As the creatures plan to come out, Kim convinces them to stay in hiding because they "have all the time in the world" and others will come to the manor.

Production

Del Toro chose Troy Nixey to direct the film after seeing Nixey's short film Latchkey's Lament. For the design of the creatures in the film, Nixey drew inspiration from pictures of mole rats.

Influences:

Del Toro has attributed the idea of giving the creatures in the film a fairy origin to the work of the writer Arthur Machen, saying in an interview: "I love the Welsh author Arthur Machen and his idea that fairy lore comes from a dark place, that it’s derived from little, pre-human creatures who are really, really nasty vermin but are magical in a way, living as they do for hundreds of years. His books are what compelled me to do this." Machen's stories are specifically mentioned in the film by the librarian character.[citation needed]

Del Toro is a long-standing admirer of Machen and said his work was also an influence on Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The Golden Army both of which also feature fairy creatures.

The name of "Emerson Blackwood", the character who built the mansion in the film, is a tribute to Algernon Blackwood, another writer of supernatural horror stories.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

This picture, which was developed with Miramax in the wake of the division's closure and sale, was released by FilmDistrict, and was rated R despite filmmaker ambitions to the contrary. Del Toro has stated, "We originally thought we could shoot it as PG-13 without compromising the scares ... And then the MPAA came back and gave us a badge of honor. They gave us an R for 'Violence and Terror.' We asked them if there was anything we could do, and they said, 'Why ruin a perfectly scary movie?"

Troy Nixey narrated the film at a screening at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.

The initial release date was scheduled for January 21, 2011.

Due to the sale of Miramax by Disney on December 3, 2010, the release was put on hold until the sale was finalized. The film was released on August 26, 2011.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 60% based on reviews from 176 critics, with an average rating of 5.88/10. The website's critical consensus states that "While it's pleasantly atmospheric and initially quite scary, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark ultimately fails to deliver the skin-crawling chills of the original". On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, calling it "a very good haunted house film" and adding that it "milks our frustration deliciously."

Box Office Total: £38.3 million

My Review

I honestly really loved this movie when I was younger. This came out when I was about 5 years old {Don't ask why I was watching creepy horror movies such as this when I was too young, I don't even know myself}. And as a kid with an already irrational fear of the dark, this really amplified it. I couldn't sleep with the light off for weeks. But as I've gotten older, I've watched it a few times and have seen the flaws within it and the beauty of the movie. Like every Guillermo Del Toro movie, the scenery and cinematography is stunning and really captures you {A reason why I love Guillermo Del Toro movies}. And although Bailee has learned a lot as she got older, she was really lacking in this film. But she was very young and didn't really act much at the time so you can't really blame her. Other than that, I think the film is very good and if you want to get creeped out by things that go bump in the night, this is the movie for you. Especially considering how creepy those little creatures are. {I remember watching this with my dad and two sisters when I was little, and my mom was at work, It scared the life out of me, and after we went to our rooms to go to bed my older sister played scratching sounds just like the movie, and even them TALKING! I huddle up with my other sister (who I shared a room with at the time) and when the sounds came on my sister grabbed me and moved away from the edge, My other older sister was screaming while balled in her blanket, That movie created my phobia of being alone and complete darkness. Please Beware}.

{I mean look at them, how creepy are these little demon guys; imagine having these in you house running in the walls, plotting to eat you alive}.

I wanted a terrifying movie that didn't rely on jump scares. I got it and more. (I don't scare easy). I love the movie, not the most original plot with the whole parents not believing a thing. But overall it was a great movie with an unexpected ending. 10/10; probably one of the BEST horror films in the 21st century!