Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011 film)
Encyclopedia
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2011 American horror film
written by Matthew Robbins
and Guillermo del Toro
, directed by comic book artist
Troy Nixey and filmed in Mount Macedon, Victoria
and Melbourne, Australia. The film stars Guy Pearce
, Katie Holmes
, and Bailee Madison
, as a man, his daughter, and his girlfriend moving into a 19th century
Rhode Island mansion, where his withdrawn daughter begins to witness malevolent goblin
-like tooth fairies that emerge from a sealed ash pit in the basement of the house. It is a remake of the 1973 ABC
made-for-television horror film of the same name that starred Kim Darby
.
, renowned painter Lord Blackwood summons his housekeeper into the basement where he kills her with a hammer and chisel. He removes her teeth and offers them to mysterious creatures down an ash pit within an old fireplace. However, the creatures demand the teeth of children. Blackwood begs for them to give back his kidnapped son, only to be dragged down the ash pit by the creatures.
In the present day, eight-year old Sally Hurst arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim, both restoring the Blackwood Manor to put it on the market for their client Mr. Jacoby. Sally is depressed due to her mother forcefully putting her in Alex's care and giving her copious amounts of Ritalin. On the first night of her stay, Sally is given a carousel-styled nightlight, the melodious tune it plays awakening the creatures in the ash pit. The next day, Sally wanders the grounds and finds the hidden basement's skylight. However, one of the workman restoring the house, Mr. Harris, warns her, Alex and Kim not to venture into the basement, although they do regardless. Sally takes interest in the sealed fireplace where she hears the creatures calling her name, and follows the mysterious voices.
Sally opens the fireplace to meet the creatures, and finds one of the old housekeeper's teeth. The creatures quickly prove to be hostile, stealing Alex's razor and shredding Kim's clothes. Alex immediately puts the blame on Sally and finds an old nineteenth-century silver coin in her possession, which she found under her pillow after the tooth disappeared. Alex and Kim head into town on a business trip, Sally sneaks to the basement to talk with the creatures, but Harris shoos her away and tries to seal the fireplace. The creatures emerge and brutally wound him with his own tools, and he is hospitalised. Sally's increasingly frightening encounters with the creatures prompts Alex to call a therapist to talk to Sally who draws a sketch of one of the creatures that attacked her under her bed sheets.
Kim visits Harris in the hospital, who tells her to find the unpublished artwork of Lord Blackwood in the local library. The librarian reveals the artwork, one of which is of one of a creature whom he describes as being like tooth fairies
, which every now and again turns a human into one of their own. Kim races home as Sally is attacked again by the fairies while having a bath, the lead fairy being a transformed Lord Blackwood who proclaims the fairies will make Sally one of their own. Kim finds an undiscovered mural painted by Lord Blackwood in the basement, depicting his son being devoured by the fairies. Kim confronts Alex who is more interested in hosting a dinner for Mr. Jacoby and friends. However, he finally realises what is happening when Sally is trapped in the library by the fairies, but she fends them off by taking photos of them.
Alex and Kim decide to flee the house with Sally, but both are ambushed by the fairies so they can literally drag Sally to the basement for her transformation. Kim awakens and confronts the fairies, freeing Sally but gets caught in the ropes and dragged into the fireplace. The fairies drag Kim into the fireplace, but the distraught Sally stomps Lord Blackwood to death. Alex arrives just as Kim disappears, and father and daughter mourn their loss. Some time later, both return to the abandoned mansion to leave a drawing of Kim there, but a gust of wind blows the drawing to the fireplace where the transformed Kim is heard convincing the fairies to forget Sally and wait for others to come, claiming they have "all the time in the world".
saying in an interview: "I love the Welsh author Arthur Machen and his idea that fairy lore comes from a dark place, that it’s derived from little, pre-human creatures who are really, really nasty vermin but are magical in a way, living as they do for hundreds of years. His books are what compelled me to do this." Machen's stories are specifically mentioned in the film by the librarian character. Del Toro is a long-standing admirer of Machen and said his work was also an influence on El Laberinto Del Fauno
(Pan's Labyrinth) which also features fairy creatures. The name of Emerson Blackwood, the artist character who built the mansion in the film is a tribute to another writer of supernatural horror Algernon Blackwood
.
Troy Nixey narrated the film at a screening at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
The initial release date was scheduled for January 21, 2011. Due to the sale of Miramax by Disney, the release was put on hold until the sale was finalized. The film was released on August 26, 2011.
reported that 59% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. Most critics agreed that "While it's pleasantly atmospheric and initially quite scary, the film ultimately fails to deliver the skin-crawling chills of the original". Bailee Madison
's acting was generally well-received by critics, who have also praised the idea of turning the protagonist into a little girl, as opposed to an adult in the original film.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
written by Matthew Robbins
Matthew Robbins (screenwriter)
Matthew Robbins is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He is good friends with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Guillermo Del Toro and Walter Murch and has had cameo appearances in THX 1138 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind...
and Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
, directed by comic book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
Troy Nixey and filmed in Mount Macedon, Victoria
Mount Macedon, Victoria
Mount Macedon is a small town located northwest of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria. It is situated on the side of the mountain of the same name, known as Geboor by the indigenous Wurundjeri people, which rises to above sea level. At the 2006 census, Mount Macedon had a population...
and Melbourne, Australia. The film stars Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
, Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
, and Bailee Madison
Bailee Madison
Bailee Madison is an American actress. She is most famous for her role in the 2007 film adaption of Katherine Paterson's Newbery Medal-winning novel Bridge to Terabithia in which she plays May Belle Aarons, the younger sister of Jesse Aarons. She films a webshow with her babysitter and fellow...
, as a man, his daughter, and his girlfriend moving into a 19th century
19th century
The 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...
Rhode Island mansion, where his withdrawn daughter begins to witness malevolent goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
-like tooth fairies that emerge from a sealed ash pit in the basement of the house. It is a remake of the 1973 ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
made-for-television horror film of the same name that starred Kim Darby
Kim Darby
Kim Darby is an American actress perhaps best known for co-starring with John Wayne and country singer/actor Glen Campbell in the 1969 western True Grit.-Early life and film career:...
.
Plot
In Blackwood Manor in Providence County, Rhode IslandProvidence County, Rhode Island
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 621,602 people, 239,936 households, and 152,839 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,504 people per square mile . There were 253,214 housing units at an average density of 613 per square mile...
, renowned painter Lord Blackwood summons his housekeeper into the basement where he kills her with a hammer and chisel. He removes her teeth and offers them to mysterious creatures down an ash pit within an old fireplace. However, the creatures demand the teeth of children. Blackwood begs for them to give back his kidnapped son, only to be dragged down the ash pit by the creatures.
In the present day, eight-year old Sally Hurst arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim, both restoring the Blackwood Manor to put it on the market for their client Mr. Jacoby. Sally is depressed due to her mother forcefully putting her in Alex's care and giving her copious amounts of Ritalin. On the first night of her stay, Sally is given a carousel-styled nightlight, the melodious tune it plays awakening the creatures in the ash pit. The next day, Sally wanders the grounds and finds the hidden basement's skylight. However, one of the workman restoring the house, Mr. Harris, warns her, Alex and Kim not to venture into the basement, although they do regardless. Sally takes interest in the sealed fireplace where she hears the creatures calling her name, and follows the mysterious voices.
Sally opens the fireplace to meet the creatures, and finds one of the old housekeeper's teeth. The creatures quickly prove to be hostile, stealing Alex's razor and shredding Kim's clothes. Alex immediately puts the blame on Sally and finds an old nineteenth-century silver coin in her possession, which she found under her pillow after the tooth disappeared. Alex and Kim head into town on a business trip, Sally sneaks to the basement to talk with the creatures, but Harris shoos her away and tries to seal the fireplace. The creatures emerge and brutally wound him with his own tools, and he is hospitalised. Sally's increasingly frightening encounters with the creatures prompts Alex to call a therapist to talk to Sally who draws a sketch of one of the creatures that attacked her under her bed sheets.
Kim visits Harris in the hospital, who tells her to find the unpublished artwork of Lord Blackwood in the local library. The librarian reveals the artwork, one of which is of one of a creature whom he describes as being like tooth fairies
Tooth fairy
The tooth fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood. The folklore states that when a child loses a baby tooth, if he or she places it beneath the bed pillow, the tooth fairy will visit while the child sleeps, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment....
, which every now and again turns a human into one of their own. Kim races home as Sally is attacked again by the fairies while having a bath, the lead fairy being a transformed Lord Blackwood who proclaims the fairies will make Sally one of their own. Kim finds an undiscovered mural painted by Lord Blackwood in the basement, depicting his son being devoured by the fairies. Kim confronts Alex who is more interested in hosting a dinner for Mr. Jacoby and friends. However, he finally realises what is happening when Sally is trapped in the library by the fairies, but she fends them off by taking photos of them.
Alex and Kim decide to flee the house with Sally, but both are ambushed by the fairies so they can literally drag Sally to the basement for her transformation. Kim awakens and confronts the fairies, freeing Sally but gets caught in the ropes and dragged into the fireplace. The fairies drag Kim into the fireplace, but the distraught Sally stomps Lord Blackwood to death. Alex arrives just as Kim disappears, and father and daughter mourn their loss. Some time later, both return to the abandoned mansion to leave a drawing of Kim there, but a gust of wind blows the drawing to the fireplace where the transformed Kim is heard convincing the fairies to forget Sally and wait for others to come, claiming they have "all the time in the world".
Cast
- Bailee MadisonBailee MadisonBailee Madison is an American actress. She is most famous for her role in the 2007 film adaption of Katherine Paterson's Newbery Medal-winning novel Bridge to Terabithia in which she plays May Belle Aarons, the younger sister of Jesse Aarons. She films a webshow with her babysitter and fellow...
as Sally Hirst - Katie HolmesKatie HolmesKatherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
as Kim - Guy PearceGuy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
as Alex Hirst - Alan DaleAlan DaleAlan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
as Jacoby - Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
as Harris - Julia BlakeJulia BlakeJulia Blake is a British-born actress based in Australia.Blake was born in London, England. She is married to Terry Norris. She is the mother of actresses Sarah and Jane Norris....
as Mrs. Underhill - Garry McDonald as Emerson Blackwood
- Edwina Ritchard as Housekeeper (Miss Winter)
- Nicholas BellNicholas BellNicholas Bell is a British actor who has worked in Australia for more than 20 years. He is a regular actor in Melbourne Theatre Company productions as well as work with all the major broadcasters in Australia, most notably the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.-Film and television:Film credits...
as Psychiatrist - James Mackay as Librarian
Production
Del Toro chose Troy Nixey to direct the film after seeing Nixey' short film Latchkey’s Lament. For the design of the creatures in the film, Nixey drew inspiration from pictures of mole rats.Influences
Del Toro has attributed the idea of giving the creatures in the film a fairy origin to the work of the writer Arthur MachenArthur Machen
Arthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
saying in an interview: "I love the Welsh author Arthur Machen and his idea that fairy lore comes from a dark place, that it’s derived from little, pre-human creatures who are really, really nasty vermin but are magical in a way, living as they do for hundreds of years. His books are what compelled me to do this." Machen's stories are specifically mentioned in the film by the librarian character. Del Toro is a long-standing admirer of Machen and said his work was also an influence on El Laberinto Del Fauno
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...
(Pan's Labyrinth) which also features fairy creatures. The name of Emerson Blackwood, the artist character who built the mansion in the film is a tribute to another writer of supernatural horror Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
.
Release
This picture, which was developed with Mirt in the wake of the division's closure was released by FilmDistrict, was rated R despite filmmaker ambitions to the contrary. "We originally thought we could shoot it as PG-13 without compromising the scares," Del Toro said. "And then the MPAA came back and gave us a badge of honor. They gave us an R for 'pervasive scariness.' We asked them if there's anything we could do, and they said, 'Why ruin a perfectly scary movie?'"Troy Nixey narrated the film at a screening at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
The initial release date was scheduled for January 21, 2011. Due to the sale of Miramax by Disney, the release was put on hold until the sale was finalized. The film was released on August 26, 2011.
Reception
The film has received mixed to generally positive reviews. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 59% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. Most critics agreed that "While it's pleasantly atmospheric and initially quite scary, the film ultimately fails to deliver the skin-crawling chills of the original". Bailee Madison
Bailee Madison
Bailee Madison is an American actress. She is most famous for her role in the 2007 film adaption of Katherine Paterson's Newbery Medal-winning novel Bridge to Terabithia in which she plays May Belle Aarons, the younger sister of Jesse Aarons. She films a webshow with her babysitter and fellow...
's acting was generally well-received by critics, who have also praised the idea of turning the protagonist into a little girl, as opposed to an adult in the original film.