FrightFest 2011 Review: DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
It's all very good-looking and you don't need gore to sell a good horror flick, but you do need something in its place, like suspense. You won't be afraid of this film.
rating: 2.5
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Though producer and co-writer Guillermo Del Toro couldn't be at this year's Frightfest for the UK premiere of the opening film, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (as he is prepping his much-anticipated monster pic Pacific Rim), he did deliver a brief recorded message prior to the screening. Firstly, he warned the audience that the film is not-so gory (before apologising to the audience of bloodthirsty horror hounds), and then informed us that it received an R-rating in the U.S. for "pervasive scariness". Looking at the end product, it's difficult to see what the MPAA was fussing about, because this well-photographed horror is otherwise mostly dull and virtually scare-free. A welcoming tone is set from the outset, at least; an opening scene involves a maid having her teeth smashed in with a hammer, and director Troy Nixey keenly employs disgusting sound effects while keeping the bloody imagery minimal. Though this suggests that he has successfully aped the style and tone of decades-old horrors, the problem essentially is that he might have just done it too well without a single lick of irony. Crucially, as audiences have toughened up, the film reaches for the same old scare tactics which have worn audiences well weary by now, chiefly jump scares you can set to a metronome, a bombastic, portentous score and plenty of screaming. The premise revolves around an awkward family unit consisting of father Alex (Guy Pearce), his daughter Sally (Bailee Madison) and Alex's girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes). The three move into a rusty old house which Alex is renovating with the hope of selling, and in the basement Sally discovers a group of small imp-like creatures which dare her to come play with them. The creatures' patience soon wears thin, though, and they take matters into their own hands, entering the home, attacking Sally and causing her father to think she's crazy, while Kim, the less skeptical parental figure, tries to use this episode to forge a friendship.