I was waiting to see this movie ever since I read its pre-release review on a friend's blog. I did like its trailer immensely but I can't really say the same about the movie.
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark is an American horror film starring Guy Pearce (Alex), Katie Holmes (Kim) and Bailee Madison (Sally). It is the remake of the 1973 horror film by the same name. I did like Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes' performance but the little girl (Bailee Madison) who played the role of Guy Pearce's daughter in the movie was a bit irritating contrary to the positive reviews she has been receiving for her role.
The movie revolves around an architect (Alex) and his girlfriend (Kim) who is an interior designer. The couple are renovating an old mansion hoping to make a name for themselves with their remarkable work. Although Alex is an extremely ambitious and slightly selfish father who is a bit harsh on his disturbed daughter time and again. However, after Sally has been abandoned by her own mother Alex brings her with himself to the old mansion where he is working only to witness more deterioration in his daughter's behavior. Kim tries hard to befriend Sally but the little girl is not keen on knowing his father's girlfriend.
The mansion was owned by an artist and biologist Emerson Blackwood who went missing shortly after his eight year old son went missing. The housekeepers knew of strange happenings in the past and they sealed the basement for many generations till Sally discovered it and told her father about it.
Sally being an inquisitive child hears voices from a hidden based with a fireplace who ask her to open the sealed based and become her friend. She discovers there are weird gnome like creatures. After frequent disturbing series of events (the house's keeper being badly injured, Kim's clothes torn apart into pieces and Sally's mentioning of strange creatures in the house) Kim decided to do some research on the history of the mansion and its owner. It was then that she saw that Blackwood himself made many paintings of small creatures and he mentioned that they want the the teeth and bones of children.
While Alex was only interested in reviving his career, Kim was worried about his daughter more. This was how Sally started trusting Kim and they became closer with time.
Anyhow, I feel the movie was a bit long. Although, they did not leave any detail in leaving the viewer confused about anything. The idea of gnomes and creatures who want to kill children and other people to get hold of teeth does sound absurd. Frankly speaking I found nothing scary in the entire movie. In fact, it was only sad to see that Kim ended up becoming the creature herself in the end while trying to save Sally.
I wouldn't really consider it a good watch except when you don't have anything else to do. For people who like anything that falls in the so called horror-scary genre may watch it. However, lately I've watched too many bad horror movies that make no sense at all so in comparison this one still is better in that area.
