Movie Review: 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'

Rating: 2.5/5




by Brian Kesler

In 1973, a 9-year-old Guillermo Del Toro watched the television film ‘Don’t be Afraid of the Dark’ and was inspired to make horror movies. Now he’s written and produced a remake of that film and although I’ve never seen the original, I can bet it was far more ambiguous in presentation. Computer effects have made it possible to do and show just about anything. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

I’m referring to the little monsters that act as the film’s miscreants. The plot isn’t unlike any other haunted house film that’s ever been released. This old, decrepit mansion has been locked away and hidden for several years – it has a dark past, you see. An architect and his girlfriend (an interior designer) renovate the house in hopes to get on the cover of magazines and boost their careers. The architect’s daughter, Sally (Bailee Madison) has come to live with them in the old mansion and, in case you haven’t guessed already, she’s not the biggest fan of the relationship between her father (Guy Pearce) and Kim (Katie Holmes). The little girl’s curiosity leads to the discovery of a hidden basement covered in cobwebs and dust and old relics. She starts to hear her name being called from within the flue shoot. The voices tell her that nobody loves her, they tell her they want to be her friend. Strange things start happening. Kim’s dresses get ripped to shreds and young Sally must take the blame. The caretaker emerges from the basement with scissors impaling his neck, and so many cuts and slashes in his skin that his entire body leaks cordovan. Nobody seems interested in exactly what happened to the man, they just refer to it as, “an accident,” and go on their merry way. Nobody believes Sally, of course, that monster’s are squatting in the basement, except for the audience, and that is where the film falters.

The monsters are heard and seen in great detail. It’s almost humorous at times. They sort of reminded me of Gremlins. Mischievous, snarky, snide, bantering. It’s a shame, really. Of course, the monsters represent little Sally’s loneliness and self-apprehension, but there are better ways to convey those themes. For instance, a conversation with a psychiatrist in which Sally reveals that the monsters have said her parents don’t love her is all we would have needed. The whispers of the monsters could have been incoherent or nonexistent, so that it would seem to the audience that perhaps she is making it up. The film is called ‘Don’t be Afraid of the Dark.’ There is a reason people are afraid of the dark. When we are denied our sacred sense of sight, the cruelty of our imagination takes over and truly frightens us. That is what modern horror films don’t seem to understand. No matter how grotesque you make the monsters, it will never be as frightening as dubiety and uncertainty. There’s a scene in the film which shows an artist’s abstract sketch of the creatures. That sketch caused more tingles down my spine in a few seconds than the rest of the film did put together.

Another flaw is the music, credited to both Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders. There are some great pieces of the score that add to the atmospheric tone of the overall piece, but there are also moments that just cater to the audiences needs to be warned before something frightening may happen. The opening sequence, for example, would have oozed much more mystery and claustrophobia had there been no music. However, once the music starts its low rumbles, it’s almost like a spoiler alert: “Something scary is about to happen, so be prepared!” It kills any sense of the dark curiosity hidden within us all and, instead, makes us resort to calling the characters idiots: “Didn’t you hear the creepy cello start bowing when you opened the door? That means don’t go down there!”

I didn’t despise the film, in fact, there was much of the film I loved. The cinematography is atmospheric and foreboding, the acting – particularly by the young Bailee Madison – is quite good, and the editing was tight and paced. I liked the sense of an old school haunted house flick, I just would’ve liked it more frightening and less silly.

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