This movie sure did build some fantastic suspense and creepiness. Director Troy Nixey and writers Guillermo Del Toro and Matthew Robbins brought the goods with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
They created this wonderful horror world inside a two-story home that contained just enough of an old 80s horror flick flavor to make it worth you time and money to see. Two key reasons why this movie succeeds lies solely with lighting and the small creatures. The house, which contains a yellow tint through most of the film is wood and dark. The environments allows for a subtle amount of sunlight to shine through, even lamps and lights have a hard time piercing the darkness in the place. Why is this important? One of the vital keys to any horror film is not seeing what’s happening. Alfred Hitchcock put it best when he said (and I’m paraphrasing) ‘the most terrifying things onscreen are the ones that we don’t see’. While he might have been referring to closed doors, it still lends validity to this movie, as the creatures can be heard but not seen in the film. The reason for that is that the lighting is so restricted that midway through the film you will squint and begin to feel enormously uncomfortable; just as the lead character Sally is feeling. This allows for your imagination to run rampant on what exactly these creatures in the film are doing behind the scenes.
As for the creatures, while they’re completely digital in the film they certainly do terrify. If it isn’t their creepy-ass history that gives you the shivers (they like eating human bones, especially teeth), their mere appearance will be enough to make sure you jump/scare once during the film. Distorted and dusty looking, these small naked mole rats are vicious and hungry through out. What’s especially great about their demeanor, and something that you will try on your kids late at night if you’re an awful parent, is how they speak. Vicious whispers are probably the worst (and best) thing your speakers will hear. They whisper in groups and they only whisper to Sally. It’s alarming and you will be guaranteed to try it out once during the film.
Both elements above make this movie work and officially put the stamp of ‘creepy movie’ on Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
With that said, don’t go into the film expecting a strong story from the human side of things, as you simply won’t get it. Lead character Sally does a great job of acting scared shitless through this entire film. Her role was solid and I can’t take anything away from her. The problems come through the believability of Guy Pearce’s Alex and his other half Kim (played by Katie Holmes). I’m not sure what Del Toro and Robbins were doing, but they certainly didn’t make a strong relationship between these two characters. It’s important for that to happen because their relationship has to be strong and start to deteriorate as the movie moves towards its horrid conclusion. It’s regretfully never really established, which makes both characters confusing and unlikeable. I can’t take anything away from the actors, as the story is solely the issue here. It’s as if Del Toro and Robbins just wanted to get to the scary part and wanted to ignore the world built around the scary. It’s a damn shame because with a strong human element in the story it could have really driven the rest quite well.
Regretfully it didn’t and what you get with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is just a movie that has scary parts; no substance. With that said, that’s about every 80s horror film that was in the middle of the road in terms of entertainment. This reminds me a lot of Ghoulies, but with better animation and minus the goofiness.
As for the Blu-ray, it’s actually pretty good, though people won’t love the aspect ratio (you get the bars). Horror films generally do well in HD. Like I mentioned above, the lighting does wonders for this film. It brings out a lot of yellows and blues, and the creepy wood carvings in the house (notice the doors when you watch this) really stand out more than they should. Credit the Blu-ray for that gem. There is no color banding, and there are plenty of chances for that to happen because of the darker feel to the film. The only complaint I have, and it only appears prominent during some of the blue tinted scenes, is that the creatures actually look grainy. While you can try to blame this on the grey color of their bodies, you can actually see graininess in the CGI that shouldn’t be there. I’ve never noticed special effects like this having this much grain in them, but it really stands out in the tiny suckers. That’s my only bad mark about the Blu-ray, and the aspect ratio, which isn’t perfect widescreen.
As for the special features, I was really impressed with the three-part ‘making of’ documentary. It was interesting and very detailed. You get information from Del Toro, director Troy Nixey and the actors involved. You get a full understanding what they were shooting for with this film and how they wanted to put things together. Very honest and concise, the three-part documentary is a treat to watch. The conceptual art is interesting, if not only for the creatures. Nothing else beyond that, though.