Sally, a young girl, moves to Rhode Island to live with her father and his new girlfriend in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #335 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2012-01-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: AC-3, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Running time: 99 minutes

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Fondly remembered for scaring the Tab out of impressionable viewers, 1973's television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stands today as a minor classic of irrational dream-logic horror, with an ending that goes straight for the worst-case scenario. Despite (or perhaps because of) its wonky effects, minimalist character development, and snicker-worthy Freudisms, it knows how to linger into the wee small hours. Cowriter-producer Guillermo del Toro's mash note of a remake is a superior movie in virtually all aspects, really, yet it somehow fails to ping the same whimpering neurons. Director Troy Nixey's film follows the same basic blueprint as the source material--a fractured family (Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison) moves into a dark old house, only to be tormented by a gaggle of tiny chatterbox demons--but with a much greater emphasis on the mythology and back story of the creatures. Del Toro has long proclaimed his love for the original movie, and it's rather fascinating to see the filmmaker attempt to shoehorn his own trademark obsessions (grim fairy-tale origins, spooky little girls, odd Lovecraftian angles, etc.) into the existing material. Still, such Gothic curlicues, however nifty, ultimately end up diluting the solid-state nightmare fuel of the premise. Aside from a few solid shocks and a strong performance by Holmes, this heartfelt redo is unlikely to have the same lasting effect on audiences as the much cruder original. Instead of focusing on the hows and whys, that one just wanted to freak the viewer out. --Andrew Wright

Most helpful customer reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Something to be afraid of
By K. Sommerfield
As I start my review for "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" I must confess one thing: I'm not a fan of supernatural horror movies. While I admire haunted house films like "Poltergeist", I've always found this sub-genre of horror to be painfully dull and its characters to be agonizingly stupid ("The Amityville Horror", I'm looking at you). They usually have the same formula: a stupid, yuppie couple (occasionally with children) buy a house, move in, hear strange noises, and bad things happen. Rinse and repeat. So, going into "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", my expectations were pretty low. After reading some not so positive reviews online, they sank even further. So is "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" worth screaming for? Well..more on that in a bit.

The film begins with a gruesome prologue shows the home's deranged first owner, Emerson Blackwood, luring his maid into the dungeon-like basement and performing medieval dentistry on the terrified young woman. As he carries out the atrocity, he explains to the young maid that they, the goblin-like creatures known as Homunculi, have taken his son and will only give him back with teeth. As the young woman screams, whispering can be heard all around the room from the sealed up fireplace. Blackwood makes his way over to the fireplace and offers the teeth in exchange for the return of his son, only to be told his offering wasn't acceptable and he is pulled into the fireplace. The basement is sealed and forgotten over the generations.

The movie then opens with a young girl, Sally Hirst (Bailee Madison), moving into Blackwood Manor, the Gothic mansion being restored by her architect father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes), an interior decorator. Her father is renovating the house they live in, in hopes of having it on the front page of a known magazine. Due to the fact that her mother recently abandoned her, Sally has become a distant child with emotional vulnerability. Although Kim tries to befriend her, Sally alienates herself from her.

One day, Sally hears voices calling her name and follows them -- finding a hidden basement with a fireplace that has been bolted shut. She is drawn toward the fireplace, as she can hear voices that beg her to open it, promising friendship. One day she sneaks into the basement to open the fireplace, but her father stops her before she can get the door completely open. The Homunculi escape, however, and begin to torment Sally at night telling her to turn the lights out.

As the days progress, Kim finds one of her dresses shredded. Shortly afterward, a teddy bear that Kim gave to Sally is found destroyed underneath her bed after she yelled for her Dad having been scared by the creatures. Sally claims that someone (or something) else is to blame for these things, but her father does not believe her and is preoccupied with renovating the house. Kim, however, begins to believe her claims, as strange incidents occur more frequently. But is it too late?

"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" is over-the-top, melodramatic, and full of plot holes. But, you know what dear reader, I loved every minute of it. This is the kind of movie in which logic is thrown out the door before the opening credits even begin. It is atmospheric in a way that has been missing from most horror movies today. Those that were disappointed by the lack of Gothic overtones in the "Fright Night" remake will be in Heaven here. The sets are gorgeous and the fluid use of cinematography is inviting in a way that makes you feel at home with these gawkily little creatures. The acting here is a bit hit or miss. Guy Pearce is terrible as the father who doesn't seem to care whether his girlfriend or his daughter lives or dies. His performance is bland to the point of sleepwalking through his role. Katie Holmes, on the other hand, is a revelation. It's nice to see a strong, female role in which she is neither helpless nor a shrewd bitch. She thoroughly blew me away and has a few very touching scenes with Madison. Madison makes for a convincingly scared child but her performance is a bit hit or miss. Overall, if you are in the mood for a moody, Gothic treat, you could do far, far worse than "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark".

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
A great story idea stretched, really, a bit too thin
By Tokay
This is the story of a child from a sundered family seeking acceptance in an ancient, perhaps cursed, home whose impish inhabitants want to be her friends. Guillermo del Toro did some great work with this movie. The creatures were spooky, diminutive and off-putting works of CGI art. The star victem was perfect as a naïve, displaced child. Even Katie Holmes did a good job (and I hate her, so that's hard for me to say). Yet somehow del Toro's take on the movie (a remake of a 1973 TV-movie sensation) was just missing something.

I was quite taken by the beguilingly creepy whispers of his evil shadow fairies. I loved the set design and lighting effects. I really enjoyed the attention to the mythology of his wee darklings. But most of this was delivered to me in the first 15-30 minutes of the movie. However enamoring this all was, I found myself waiting for something different to happen as the movie continued. But all I found was more of the same, excepting that every creature encounter became more intense and revealed more of these evil lawn gnomes' intentions. That, and for some reason their vulnerability to light seemed to change conveniently from one encounter to the next.

I was entertained by this not-so-jumpy scare-film. Anytime del Toro gets to share his ideas with creature effects teams it seems to work out great (Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Pan's Labyrinth). What was different about this film? It relied on a single creature concept for 90 minutes. Hellboy divided its attention between the demon-beast Samaal, the clockwork-assassin Cronin, Rasputin and the tentacular monster he becomes, and the star creature-characters and their nature and origins. Pan's Labyrinth has a funky mantis-fairy, the faun, and one other monster which come up in different parts of the movie as if they are three stories. Hellboy 2 was a cornucopia of ideas (one of which was linked to del Toro's childhood fear of dentists and tooth fairies like this movie). All enchanted us with ideas linked to mythologies and dark origin stories in brevity.

I think del Toro needs to take on a project that's a more serious take on episodics like Creepshow, Trick or Treat, or Tales from the Darkside. These movies thrive on nifty single-serving story ideas, which seem to overflow from del Toro's beautifully twisted mind.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
look at it differently
By MILLIE
i know, i know. this movie isn't that scary. but, if you look at it as more of a monster movie, and don't pump yourself up so much to be scared, you won't be disapointed. that's all.