Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend discovers creatures in her new home who want to claim her as one of their own.

Director:

Troy Nixey

Writers:

Guillermo del Toro (screenplay), Matthew Robbins (screenplay),

Stars:

Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Katie Holmes	...	Kim
Guy Pearce	...	Alex
Bailee Madison	...	Sally
Jack Thompson	...	Harris
Garry McDonald	...	Emerson Blackwood
Alan Dale	...	Charles Jacoby
Julia Blake	...	Mrs. Underhill
Bruce Gleeson	...	Buggy Driver
Eddie Ritchard	...	Housekeeper (as Edwina Ritchard)
Carolyn Shakespeare-Allen	...	Airport Cart Driver
David Tocci	...	Workman
Lance Drisdale	...	Policeman
Nicholas Bell	...	Psychiatrist
Libby Gott	...	Nurse
James Mackay	...	Librarian

Storyline

A young girl is sent to live with her estranged father and his girlfriend at their new home. The father, Alex has plans to spruce up the home with the help of his interior decorator girlfriend, Kim. The previous owner of the home was a famous painter who mysteriously disappeared. Alex's daughter, Sally, soon discovers the cause of the painter's disappearance.

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Plot Keywords:

basement | mansion | interior designer | creature | disappearance | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and terror

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Australia Mexico

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

No temas a la oscuridad

Filming Locations:

Central City Studios, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,525,728 (USA) (26 August 2011)

Gross:

$24,042,490 (USA) (11 November 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, FilmDistrict, Necropia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (as Datasat Digital Sound) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Appropriately set in Providence, RI as that was the home of H.P. Lovecraft who wrote the story "The Rats in the Walls" which apparently inspired this film. Though the short story was set in England not Rhode Island.

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Goofs

The Polaroid camera used to scare off the monsters has a flash strip on top of it with 10 single use bulbs in it. Sally shoots off 2-3 dozen flashes on a device that is only capable of 10. The direction and location of the used, cloudy flashes changes from shot to shot as well.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.199 (2011)

User Reviews

Not much need to be afraid of this remake

Pros: beautiful scenery/sets, a few good jumps, and about 5-10 minutes of eerie atmosphere

Cons: not very scary, too much CGI'd gremlins, and a very predictable/slow plot

Conclusion: rent the original and skip this remake

The much anticipated, by me, remake of the 1973 made for TV movie of the same name left me feeling extremely disappointed. The plot was fairly simple. A young girl Sally (Bailee Madison) moves in with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes), into a house Alex and Kim are fixing up to sell. Soon upon arriving, adventurous Sally discovers the house has a basement and that the family is not alone. The basement's fireplace is inhabited by little CGI'd creatures that terrorize the family, especially Sally. The actors I felt all did an adequate job playing their parts, especially young Sally (Bailee Madison), who played a convincingly cynical little girl fed up with being 'sold' by her mother to live with her father. Overall the movie was very predictable and offered very few scary moments. The creatures from the original, people dressed in little goblin costumes, were sparingly showed. I think it was way more effective than the over-shown little gremlins in this movie, which looked to me like Chihuahuas that could speak. Save your money and skip this one!