Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2010 American horror film written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro, directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey. It is a remake of the 1973 ABC made-for-television horror film of the same name that starred Kim Darby.
The movie stars Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison, as a man, his girlfriend, and his daughter, respectively, moving into a 19th century Rhode Island mansion, where his withdrawn daughter begins to witness malevolent creatures that emerge from a sealed ash pit in the basement of the house.
Reviews:
“A big part of the problem comes in the casting. Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes – the kind of odd pairing of actors that comes only after your first and second choices have passed – are unconvincing and curiously unsympathetic as the architect Alex and his girlfriend.” The Miami Herald
“This is a very good haunted house film. It milks our frustration deliciously […] the shadows are deep and dark, and the screws in the grating of the flue seem to turn themselves, and no one will pay attention to little Sally, and somewhere in the audience will be a kid who gets inspired to make his own horror films.” Roger Ebert.com
“Feels retro in all the right ways; it’s a bump-in-the-night tale that, if not for the occasional glimpse of a cellphone or reference to Adderall, could have been told decades ago.” Washington Post
Cast and characters:
Bruce Gleeson … Buggy Driver
Eddie Ritchard … Housekeeper (as Edwina Ritchard)
Garry McDonald … Blackwood
Bailee Madison … Sally
Carolyn Shakespeare-Allen … Airport Cart Driver
Katie Holmes … Kim
Guy Pearce … Alex
Jack Thompson … Harris
Julia Blake … Mrs Underhill
David Tocci … Workman
Lance Drisdale … Policeman
Nicholas Bell … Psychiatrist
Libby Gott … Nurse
James Mackay … Librarian
Emilia Burns … Caterer (as Emelia Burns)
Alan Dale … Charles Jacoby
Trudy Hellier … Evelyn Jacoby
Terry Kenwrick … Bill
Filming locations:
Drusilla Mansion in Mount Macedon, Victoria
Melbourne, Australia
