Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Review by Corbin Bond

Tonight I got the amazing chance to see the world premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s newest film, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The film is a very dark interpretation on old folklore del Toro actually came across in research. Furthermore, it is also greatly influenced by a 70’s made for television film by the same name. The story is of a young girl named Sally, played by Bailee Madison, who is sent by her mother to stay with her father, played by Guy Pearce, and his new girlfriend named Kim, played by Katie Holmes. The father and Kim are currently renovating the old Blackwood mansion so that they can start a successful architecture business. While staying in the house, Sally starts to experience very strange occurrences starting with whispering voices calling out to her. Following some very disturbing events in the newly found basement of the Blackwood mansion, including a violent attack on one of the groundskeepers, Sally comes to discover that the mansion is overrun by demonic creatures that can only reveal themselves in the darkness. It is up to Sally and Kim, who comes to believe her later, to stop these terrifying creatures from destroying the family and taking their desired sacrifice.

The one thing I absolutely love about Guillermo del Toro’s storytelling is how he produces imagery that is directly out of Gothic horror. The entire film is like a very dark and disturbing Grimm’s Fairy Tale with Sally being the young innocent girl, who is brought into this very dark and evil world. Meanwhile, we are given adults who either refuse to believe or just have a hard time relating to Sally’s pleas for help. Furthermore, what really made this movie even more effective was the tension that built in this film. The music was very beautiful, but at the right moments, it had the capability of putting many members of the audience at the edge of their seats. The film also played with the power silence has on an audience waiting for a creature to jump out at the screen. Another strong point was that the story had its funny one-liners that brought relief when needed. The atmosphere was very similar to that of Poe and especially H.P. Lovecraft in that it was very fantastical yet creepy and ominous simultaneously.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark also has a very awesome amount of suspense involved. There are many moments that made many in the audience jump. Even certain normal sounds, like thunder, had the capability to make some jump. However, the creatures are clearly the spotlight of providing this suspense. For example, at one point in the film, Sally wakes up after her nightlight falls off of her night stand to find that the creatures are in her bedroom and crawling up under the covers. She grabs a flashlight and goes under. As she crawls under, she suddenly comes across one of the creatures that screams directly at the screen causing the entire theater to echo in a chorus of screams. There are many other moments like this in the film, including a scene involving Sally in the bath tub, and each one produced some form of nightmarish moment sending the audience into shivers, cringes, jumps, or covering their eyes.

This film was also very violent at times in which the creatures attack innocent people in the home. However, one particular moment in the film, that still sends chills down my spine, has to be the opening scene. This scene is like a prologue in that we learn of the Blackwood history. We are shown a grisly act of Mr. Blackwood bashing out the teeth of his maid with a hammer and chisel. Following this murder he takes her teeth in a saucer and carries them to an ash pit only to brutally attacked and dragged down the pit by the creatures in habiting the pit. The whole time we can hear his bones snapping and crunching as he is dragged down into this unknown abyss, which could possibly be interpreted as being dragged to Hell. Later we are given other moments of violence performed by the creature that also caused multiple cringes and repulsion.

Another factor of the film that I enjoyed was its usage of fairy tale folklore. I won’t reveal any spoilers on the creatures themselves, but one can easily notice references to other known childhood folk tales, which is Guillermo del Toro’s literal calling card. It plays very much so on the classic childhood fears that we all faced while growing up, especially our feeling of being alone in the darkness with no one to believe that you are in danger or even help you. This presents the theme of isolation very intelligently in that as children we are believed to have wild imaginations that adults cannot or will not believe. This caused audiences to feel a lot of pity for Sally, as she was constantly tormented viciously by these creatures. Furthermore, with this child in peril, the film provided a much more disturbing tone. One can also get a sense of childhood fancy with some other forms of imagery Guillermo del Toro uses, like the gorgeous garden of the Blackwood estate that seems very reminiscent of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands. The beauty of the land paired with the dark and ominous atmosphere provided a very interesting and fascinating contrast.

The creatures themselves were all computer generated. When I first heard about this, I was a little discouraged; however, after seeing the film, I have to say that those little bastards were freaky. Their overall appearance was absolutely twisted and disturbing. I still can’t believe that some people in the audience actually brought children to see it. True, they were very small creatures; however, don’t let that fool you. They are brutal in what they can and will do to get their “hunger” settled. What got to me the most was that they were very deceptive with whispers, and once they were finally up close they were feral and terrifying. Furthermore, whenever they did get caught in light they would deliver a shrill scream that can easily be called worse than nails on a chalk board. In my opinion, these are the scariest little demons I have seen since Joe Dante’s Gremlins.

Overall, I was very pleased with this film, and Guillermo del Toro should be proud because he has provided audiences with a traditional horror film that goes back to the roots of horror’s true traits. It’s scary, shocking, funny, and entertaining all at once. Furthermore, the acting was terrific. I was very impressed with Katie Holmes performance because she really portrayed Kim’s role in a way that really made the audience feel for her as well. I believe she showed much improvement with her performance in this film. Meanwhile, Bailee Madison was the perfect image of a sweet innocent little Sally, and she really pulled off the role well especially as she learns to fight back later in the film. Guy Pearce did a good job as well portraying the father as a skeptic who we begin to feel sympathy for as he later believes his daughter. The film itself is a very awesome and fun horror film that is absolutely perfect to watch in a pitch black room with a bucket of popcorn and friends. However, I must say prepare to scream.