Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

2010 "Fear is never just make believe."
5.5| 1h39m| R| en
Details

A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend discovers creatures in her new home who want to claim her as one of their own.

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Reviews

TinsHeadline Touches You
Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
tomscharff I don't care what people say, 12 year old me was scared after watching this. So creepy
jacobjohntaylor1 This is a very bad movie. It is better then original 1973 version. But not mush better. This an awful movie. It is about a family that buy and old house and goblins live in the basement. It is not scary at all. It is badly written. The ending is terrible. Do not wast your time. Do not wast your money. One of the only horror movie I can the of worst then this one is Don't be afraid of the dark (1973). Don't be afraid of this movie is what there should have called it. The goblins in this movie eat humans bones. It not a fun movie at all. So there is no point to it. It takes all the fun out of horror. It is only scary If you are under ten. This movie is pooh pooh. Do not see it.
PandoraProductions4 I am truly shocked that this film has such a low IMDb rating. Here is a finely crafted, skilfully directed, well acted, and beautifully filmed fantasy horror film. It is a shame that a good film like this has to be lumped with the likes of standard horror movie crap. I was hypnotized by the visuals, which reminded me of the great film Pan's Labyrinth (both films come from the same creator, Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro). Since nobody else seems to want to defend this movie, I will. It is based off an earlier TV movie of the same name which apparently inspired Del Toro to become a filmmaker. Sally (Bailee Madison) comes to live with her father (Guy Pierce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in their newly refurbished manor. This place has a history of death, in fact the last owner of it mysteriously vanished. Soon it becomes clear to Sally that there is something else living in the house with them, an ancient presence that whispers through the walls and that leaves coins under pillows in exchange for teeth. . . . Of course, nobody believes Sally, until it's too late! One of the things I really like about the film is it's look. I like the use of colour throughout, especially the autumn hues. Outside the house is always portrayed as cold, with shades of blue and grey. We are always drawn back into the interior of the house, with it's cozy shades of orange, yellow, and brown. I feel like the makers of this really put a lot of effort into making each shot look great, and it really pays off. The acting is good. Pierce and Holmes are competent, but the show is really stolen by Madison. She is very convincing as a girl haunted by demons, she seems actually terrified, and the film becomes all the more scarier because of it. There's only one jump scare in the entire film, that I remember, and it's not unfairly placed. This film doesn't limit itself to horror clichés, but delves deeper into the fantasy realm, which I appreciated. The atmosphere is palpable throughout. To finish off, I would completely recommend this film for lovers of fantasy horror. It's worth checking out.
GL84 After moving into a new house in the countryside, a young girl discovers the area home to a race of diminutive beings who need to feed on human teeth to survive and must convince her parents to help her stop them.This is quite a decent enough effort that does have enough going for it to make it work. The main thing going for this one is the fact that house itself is used to build the kind of atmosphere and presence that gives this a rather impressive amount of suspense throughout this. By being the kind of location that can accurately keep the creatures hidden so well as it does here by utilizing the darkened hallways, light-less rooms and generally creepy layout this gives off, it has the perfect hiding locations to allow the creatures to stay a rather impressive force by having them know the lay-out so that there's an advantage to them that's not available elsewhere. That gives this a few rather impressive attack scenes throughout this with there being the basement brutalizing and the ambush in the bathroom to give this a rather spectacular air about it to having the kind of action required to stay invested here. As well, the final half which is the assault on the dinner party and the guests there is quite a bit of fun and really works quite well, helped by the swarm of creatures there but also managing to get plenty of high-end spectacle coming from this so it all works out quite well. These do help somewhat to overcome the few flaws in here, though nothing overcomes the factor of having the father be so utterly clueless and careless towards his daughter's claims. The blatant dismissals here generally feel solely there to provide an excuse to stay in the house and keep the plot rolling along rather than out of any general kind of rational behavior on his part, as the kind of sequences ushered throughout here are far more worthy of investigation on his part and these are brushed off quite simply to move the plot along so these are quite unbelievable. As well, the constantly-changing tone of the creatures here is somewhat confusing, since it gives them a reverence and feel towards their behavior and general appearance that reads more like a fantasy than a straightforward horror effort so there's a rather alarming clash against the brutal and vicious actions they undergo here. It doesn't help the CGI looks atrocious and off throughout here as they rarely interact well with their surroundings and the size changes throughout, but when they have a whimsical attitude towards someone here only to suddenly swarm them with knives and surgical tools to violently begin hacking them to pieces, it's differing moods is a big problem. Otherwise, this one isn't so bad.Rated R: Violence, Language and continuous children-in-jeopardy.