Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming horror/thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark looks to be a spooky, atmospheric thrill ride. Hitting theaters on August 26th, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has released some eerie trailers and clips that have me highly intrigued. And though del Toro didn’t direct this horror pic, he co-wrote the script and co-produced it, so there should be plenty of his dark imagination when it comes to supernatural scares.
Directed by relative newbie Troy Nixey, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark stars Aussie thesp Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison as the young heroine. It’s co-written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins (Mimic, Warning Sign), and is actually a remake of a 1973 TV horror movie of the same name that del Toro believes is the scariest TV production ever made.
The original TV movie obviously made an impression on del Toro, and the feature film remake will hopefully leave audiences with a similar feeling about this old-school haunted house pic. Though it seems like the haunting isn’t so much by ghosts as little evil creatures who dwell in the walls.
Del Toro won me over with the disturbing but visually stunning Pan’s Labyrinth, which he wrote and directed, as well as some of his older horrors like The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos. He’s got an amazingly artistic sensibility and a slow and disturbing style to his horror that just crawls under your skin.
In Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, he is returning to familiar territory as far as storyline. Much like Pan’s labyrinth, the main character is a young girl dealing with some frightening and supernatural issues on her own. Hopefully, like Pan’s Labyrinth, there will be the disturbing horror elements balanced with a poignant and powerful emotional tale.
The official synopsis is below; tell us what you think about the upcoming horror offering from del Toro.
Once upon a time, more than a hundred years ago, the only son of the renowned naturalist and artist Emerson Blackwood disappeared into the inky blackness of their basement ash pit. Shortly after, Emerson vanished himself, disappearing down a rabbit hole from whose unfathomable darkness he would never
emerge.Blackwood Manor has new tenants. While architect Alex Hurst (Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Holmes) restore their Gothic mansion’s period interiors, Alex’s young daughter Sally (Madison)—neglected by her real mother and brushed aside by the careerist father—can investigate the macabre history and dark corners
of the estate.Spurring Sally’s investigation are the voices—rasping whispers who call out to her from the basement, who promise her understanding and friendship, who are so very hungry and would like to be set free. When Sally gives in to her curiosity, she opens a gateway into a hellish underworld from which an army of beady-eyed, sharp-clawed monsters emerge, small in size but endless in number: the
homunculi.Confronted with the horror that now threatens to taker her life and destroy her family, Sally desperately tries to warn the whole house, but there’s just one problem: no one believes her. Will she make them understand in time, or will they become another chapter in the centuries-long horror story of Blackwood Manor?
