Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend believes that she has released creatures from a sealed ash pit in the basement of her new home.

Director:

Troy Nixey

Writers:

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

Stars:

Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison

4 nominations.

Cast

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

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:

mansion | basement | interior designer | fear | imp | 

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Taglines:

Don't listen to them. Don't turn off the light. Don't let them out.

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Genres:

Fantasy | 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:

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Filming Locations:

Central City Studios, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,525,728, 28 August 2011

Gross USA:

$24,046,682

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$38,269,529

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, 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

Katie Holmes and Abbe Holmes (who provides the voice of Sally's mother) are not related to each other.

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Goofs

At the dinner party, Sally's leggings are plain. When she's pushing the library shelves, a close-up of her feet shows striped leggings.

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Quotes

Sally: They don't like bright lights, you know, those things.

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Connections

Referenced in Movie Friends - Eine Videothek stellt sich vor (2013)

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Soundtracks

Concerto Grosso for 2 Violins, strings and continuo in A minor, Op. 3, No. 8 RV 522, III. Allegro
Written by Antonio Vivaldi
Arranged by Albert Marlowe (as Albert Marlow)
Courtesy of Westar Classical Music and Music Supervisor Inc.

User Reviews

If you want a good horror story, look elsewhere

When this film ended, my friend and I looked at each other the same way and knew we had something here to talk about. Trust me it was not positive, although this movie did have some areas that it did OK on.

To begin with, the directing was good but nothing to write home about. The same is true for the acting - it held its end of the bargain up. The photography, lighting, and sound was actually some of the redeeming elements of this film.

As for the two most important elements of storytelling, this movie just plain whiffed on the attempt.

The first important thing it failed at was to TELL the story. Sounds like that would be hard to do, but this film accomplished just that. It did ramble on fairly quickly about some creatures, a little girl, and touched base on the prior occupants of the home as well as the new owners. It threw in a couple of make you jump scenes and then just kind of died from there. The fact that it did not go into any depth in some of the most important areas, lets us down as viewers. I believe that this idea really had a chance to work, if just a little more time was taken to fluff up the tale, especially the history of the little beings that dwelled in the dark in the basement. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" gave it a small try, but that is about it.

The second place it really, really failed was the ending. Without going into detail, all I will say is this film crash-landed. The "Movie Pulse" section of the review will give you a good idea of how bad the landing was.

That being said, the movie did not warrant a D or lower grade. It was a fun little tale and it will let you think throughout the film that it will sink its teeth in you eventually. Well, it never really did, and it bombed the ending, but we had fun getting there I guess.

Perhaps rent it on DVD when it comes out maybe just for fun, but please do not think you will come away with anything more than that.

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