Get ready for the horror event of the year. I’m only joking. In fact, there’s absolutely nothing in “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” that you haven’t seen before, unless you’ve never seen a horror movie before (I doubt that). I’m a huge fan of Guillermo Del Toro (who worked as a producer here), and I was more than willing to accept his all too familiar plot about a young girl (newcomer Bailee Madison) who is sent to live with her divorced father (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in their spooky old mansion. But as we learn in the prologue, the house has a terrible history (duh!). Can you guess what happens next? Of course you can. But I’m gonna fill you in anyway. Soon enough, the girl starts hearing strange voices coming from the basement (how original!). In case you’re wondering, the voices belong to some monstrous little creatures who mean to overtake our heroine as their latest “victim”, or something like that. The more we see of the little creatures, the less they become scary, or interesting for that matter. And once the story reaches the hour mark, it’s all downhill from there. From the ridiculous actions of the two adults (Holmes in particular is laughable), to the victimization of the little girl, its all too predictable, and too silly. Despite Del Toro’s name in the credits, “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” is just not enough. Not even close actually.
Rating: 2/4
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