Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011) Review

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011) dir. Troy Nixey, starring Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, Bailee Madison, runtime 99mins, cert 15

Before I begin, I just need to outline three things I've learnt from this film. 1) Never, ever live in a big scary house and, if you do, don't go in the basement 2) Cameras can be used as weapons by people other than paparazzi and 3) Always listen to children, they might be right and your life could depend on it!

So....as a big Guillermo del Toro fan, when I heard he'd written this I was quite excited to see it. Visually this film is very nice...it looks a lot like Pan's Labyrinth, although in my opinion Pan's Labyrinth was much better. But that's not to say this is a bad film.

A young girl, Sally, gets sent to live with her dad (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) who are renovating a huge, old house, once owned by a famous artist who mysteriously disappeared. To go into too much detail in relation to the plot would be to give too much away, but suffice to say Sally discovers that the house has a few secrets of its own.

Horror films which have a child lead are always effective for me, I'm not sure why but I tend to be much more scared or shocked when a child is in a horror film than an adult. Bailee Madison is very good in the role of Sally and being able to see the world through Sally's eyes opens up a new spectrum of things to be scared of for an adult audience.

But, this film could have been so much better. It lacks tension in most places and the 'secret' the house holds could have been so much scarier. The reliance on CGI too often leads to laziness or lack of creativity, which means a film which had potential to be really scary falls a bit short.

The best bit of the film, as previously mentioned, is the design. The set of the house is amazing and the colours that are used in the film are rich and warm when it's right but harsh and cold in other places.

It's not a bad film, and it was certainly enjoyable, but it just wasn't as good as it could have been and didn't match up to other child-led horrors like Pan's Labyrinth and The Orphanage.

Needless to say though, I'll still eye the hole in the ceiling above my window with suspicion and have a quick glance around my room before switching the lights off for bed.

(Photo by brianfuller6385 on Flickr)