Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2011)

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, when I heard of this premiere screening, my first thoughts were that the title was rather long. Then I found out this movie is actually a remake of a 1973 movie of the same name. Thanks to Nuffnang, I found myself reaching GSC Midvalley just in time to catch "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" with other fellow bloggers and friends.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark Movie Poster

My premiere tickets which looked rather scary

Be forewarned though, I went into the movie expecting a "scare me witless" movie but came out wondering if that was a "Disney" movie.

Don't Be Afraid of The Dark tells the tale of this brooding mansion, one which gives off a very old and eerie aura where Alex Hirst (Guy Pearce) and Kim (Katie Holmes) lives there. Alex the architect, and Kim the interior designer lives there in order to restore the old mansion to full glory with plans of selling it off for profits. The mansion was home to a Lord Blackwood with a dark history. We then have this eight year old girl Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison) who was asked to live with her father Alex by her mum.

Restoration of the old Blackwood mansion

 
It starts to get interesting when Sally begins hearing and seeing these ugly fairy like creatures who has a pension for kid's teeth and are really really afraid of the light. They only come scurrying out in the dark, with knives and all from their hole in the mansion's basement. From then on, the movie gets predictable, with Alex and Kim not believing initially until too late when everything goes the wrong way.

Our cute little fairy monster

Coming from the director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, which i have watched before, the artistic cinematography and colours were really good. But that is about all that's good about the movie, as even though it started off really scary, the movie failed to scare off its audience. Logic goes out the window as we see Sally walking head on alone into dark basements, poking her head into confined spaces and all. I mean, a normal 8 year old would have just ran out of the mansion, but then there won't be a movie to show.

Sally Hurst

Kim (Katie Holmes) in front of this rather cool drawing of a kid being fed to the monsters

Overall, I wouldn't advice going for this movie if you are looking for horror. Go for it only if you have a liking for good artistic cinematography, think along the lines of Pan's Labyrinth minus the weirdness. I found the tagline for the movie "Fear is never just make believe" rather inapropriate as the movie failed to instill fear in its audience. I would rate this movie 3/10 just for the beautiful way the movie played out.

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