Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Director: Troy Nixey
Writer: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Nigel McKeand
Based on: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Cast: Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce
Part of: /slash Filmfestival

Plot:
Alex (Guy Pearce) and Kim (Katie Holmes) have acquired an old house which they’re currently renovating to sell. When Alex’ daughter Sally (Bailee Madison) moves in with them in said house, she discovers a cellar that was bricked up before. Excited, Alex and Kim open it up. Little do they know that there is something living in the cellar that has only waited to be released.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a genuinely scary, very classic horror movie. While the rest of the film is good, it’s the production and set design that is really great.

Nixey is really able to mount up the tension. It’s one of the films where you can see the scares coming a long way off, but that just makes it worse because you just tense up 5 minutes before the actual thing. Seriously, it got so bad within the first half hour or so, that I caught myself wondering why the fuck I continue to watch horror movies at all when they scare the shit out of me like this. [It’s because they’re brilliant. But in this particular moment, I didn’t care.]

It got better after that. It was still a scary movie but a few scenes of “why don’t they just turn on the light?” and a bit Katie Holmes getting every scene taken from her by a ten year old relieved the tension a bit. And it’s not only that Katie Holmes isn’t a particularly strong actress. Bailee Madison is absolutely fantastic.

It’s not all Katie Holmes’ fault. Her character is pretty much pointless. It also drove me completely insane that she would believe Sally, not Sally’s dad and that [SPOILER] she would be the one to sacrifice herself [/SPOILER]. I just didn’t understand why it wasn’t just Sally and her dad. It just ties into the whole “women are so much better with children” trope.

Anyway, all of that is completely made up for by the brilliant production design. That house really is a thing of beauty. And you could just feel del Toro and his aesthetics in every bit of it.

Summarising: Loved it.