Wednesday 5 October 2011

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

In a Nutshell: A young girl discovers creatures in her new home that start to terrorise her.



This is one of those films that’s ‘presented’ by Guillermo Del Toro, he also co-wrote the screenplay for this remake of a TV film from the 70’s. That basically means Del Toro produced it and the new director of the film is a no-name, so the Pan’s Labyrinth director gets top billing. Regardless, his name is attached so that is reason enough to take notice.


The story is rather formulaic and horror-lite, yet it manages to create quite a threatening atmosphere. Diehard fans of the genre won’t find anything too scary here, but there is a couple of jumpy bits in there and it’s not afraid to get a bit brutal in places. There’s a solid lead performance from young actress Bailee Madison, and Guy Pearce and (surprisingly) Katie Holmes are apt as her father and his new girlfriend.

Don’t expect the sort of orchestrated brilliance that makes Pan’s Labyrinth and Devil’s Backbone so great, by the end it’s a poor imitation of far better movies. It doesn't quite pull off that dark fairytale style that Guillermo Del Toro's does so well, although it does provide some fun, if forgettable entertainment all the same.

6.5/10

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