Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark [Blu-ray + DVD]

At the risk of getting an online slamming (I can take it) this is a really good creepy movie. Sure, the storyline isn't something never told before, but it does it well. Plus, it's a remake so it most definitely has been told before. But then most horror movies fall back on familiar themes (like the past coming back to haunt and threaten us, or what happens when you leave the safety of the path and head into the woods) but I certainly jumped and was really caught up in this movie. I've around thirty years experience of watching horror movies and this was a good little trip into the darkness.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark follows Sally, a little girl who's sent to live with her father and his girlfriend at Blackwood Manor, a very old (and somewhat creepy) manor house which they are renovating with a view to selling on. Sally, unhappy with feeling unhappy and unloved after her mother "sent her away" soon gets herself into trouble, finding a previously hidden cellar door in the overgrown grounds of the house which belongs to the previous owner - whose son disappeared without a trace many years prior, only to shortly disappear himself.

Sally hears voices whispering to her from the fireplace, asking to be let out so they can be her friend, feeling lonely she does so - but soon realises that the last thing the voices want is to be her friend, but rather to harm her.

The story itself is pretty good in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with a "traditional" horror movie. Of course we've all seen a haunted house movie before and it's nothing new but that doesn't mean it can't be good! And in this sense, I did enjoy this for what it was - a good, old fashioned horror flick.

But! The movie has three fatal flaws for me:

1. There's a difference between traditional and stereotyped and cliché - this really does cross the line into the later. There's the weird caretaker, who's really the good guy, there's the hidden collection of books at the local library that "explain all", there's the something moving under the bed sheets scene and the bathroom scene. The problem is NONE of it is new, unexpected or even just extremely well done.

2. The "monsters" aren't scary! You spend the first half hour, desperate to see the source of the eerie voice and when you do you're left under whelmed - it's like play doe gremlins! After seeing them for the first time, I just kept thinking "Oh come on, just squash them!" I'm sure given all of the special effects possible in this day and age; something better could have been managed.

3. None of the main characters are likeable. Sally is a very aloof child and to begin with you find yourself quite irritated with her. Her father is not just indifferent, he's negligent and the girlfriend, although probably the most likeable of the bunch is unfortunately played by Katie Holmes, who is fast winning my vote for worst actress to make it on to the big screen.

I did enjoy this movie, it was "OK" overall but true horror fans will probably find this overdone and unoriginal. It's a struggle to understand why you'd choose to re-do an old horror movie like this one and not do it better than before but that's exactly what this is - more of the same!

Del Toro is renowned for delivering visually stunning and unsettling films, you only have to look at Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy to know that he is a seriously talented and has a boundless imagination. However Del Toro acts as producer and writer on this film and allows Troy Nixey to direct, and he does so very well. The intial set up is very well done and the opening immediately instills dread and fear. He then proceeds to deliver some brilliant set pieces and makes use of Del Toro's imagination and script to draw the viewer into the creepy, gothic manor that increases the sense of fantasy, dread and horror. The protagonist, a little girl, soon stumbles upon the houses dark secret and into the basement where the ash pit of the fire place, or whatever is inside, begins to whisper to her. Nixey doesn't show the creatures immediately, instead opting to have them in partial shadow or as silhouettes beneath the bed and in the air vents. When the creatures are revealed they are admittedly not too scary, but they are disturbing in their mannerisms and desire for children's teeth. The acting is not bad, Katie Holmes is decent as the stepmother who ends up believing, Guy Pearce is alright with his role as the disbelieving father that is rather cliched but ultimately necessary. However it is Bailee Maddison as Sally who really shines.
While this film is jumpy in places and offers some decent gruesome, shocking moments it never goes all out scary and makes you want to leave the lights on. But possibly this was a wise move, rather than giving us the cliched slasher, killer, blood all over the place horror we get an hour and a half of tension, well crafted chills and jumps that ultimately go on to make this one of the best creature horrors i have ever seen. Though it's got Del Toro's fingerprints all over it, Nixey does make it his own and never lets the fantasy be too overbearing and unbelievable and delivers enoughn chills and scares too keep you gripped the whole way through.
Extra features include a couple of decent featurettes that explains the creating of the creatures and the story and some interviews with the cast.