Don’t be very afraid of this ‘Dark’

Sally (Bailee Madison) looks like she’s about to get scared in ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.’

By Josh Bell

Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 | 5:30 p.m.

Horror on network TV is inherently limited by broadcast standards, so the creators of the 1973 TV-movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark had to create their scares via atmosphere and implication rather than full-on violence and gore, and the result was a creepy story that lodged in the minds of people of a certain generation who watched it during their formative years. The new big-screen remake of Don’t Be Afraid doesn’t have those same limitations—it’s an R-rated theatrical release. Producer and co-writer Guillermo del Toro is known for creating and/or presenting atmospheric horror movies like The Devil’s Backbone and The Orphanage, though, and the movie starts out with an effective vibe of unsettling dread.

The Details

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce

Directed by Troy Nixey

Rated R

Beyond the Weekly

Official Movie Site

IMDb: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Rotten Tomatoes: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

But del Toro and director Troy Nixey, a comic-book artist making his feature debut, don’t keep things in the shadows long enough. At first young Sally (Bailee Madison) only hears whispered voices and catches fleeting glimpses in the shadows of the large, ominous old house she’s just moved into with her dad (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes). When Nixey is focusing on quiet, subtle moments of suspense, Don’t Be Afraid is pretty effective, although the sullen, bratty Sally is kind of an annoying protagonist at first. But just as Sally starts to get more engaging, Nixey pulls back a few too many curtains, revealing the evil little beings who inhabit the house and are out to get its latest residents.

The creatures look and sound completely silly, a cross between Gremlins and Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, and instead of scary and dangerous, they just seem goofy. Madison, too, has a tough time conveying the genuine danger Sally finds herself in, and Holmes gives a one-note performance as the insecure, needy substitute mother figure. The moody production design is excellent, and the subtext about making sacrifices for motherhood, if underdeveloped, is potentially intriguing. Every time those little creatures skitter across the screen, though, it’s a reminder of how much more powerful and effective the imaginations of the original movie’s viewers were than anything these filmmakers have put onscreen.