This much-anticipated Guillermo del Toro-penned remake is a project you really want to like. But…
…the end result, as co-scripted by Matthew Robbins and directed by Troy Nixey, eventually wastes all the benefits of all the doubts you may have given it. To be clear, I’m not one who doubted this new Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark from the get-go, who felt it inherently doomed for taking a 1970’s lo-fi classic and giving it a slick CGI-polish for today’s audiences. That would almost be too easy, and certainly would too deeply discount Del Toro’s contributions—anyone recall how he gave new life to the Blade franchise? Indeed, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a property that could have benefited from amplification of some sort, especially the gaslit backstory that helps explain how its ageless little monsters came to reside in the particular house in which we now find them.
As luck would have it, this is exactly where the film really excels: the first few minutes. From the opening shot on, Nixey shows such skill working with the period elements—he crafts scenes that are atmospheric and visceral at the same time—that you’re utterly transported. The horror elements thus come across as original, mysterious, ominous… and yes, therefore powerful.
But then, following the title sequence, all of that power slowly dissipates like an air mattress with a tiny, but ultimately fatal pinprick. Indeed, you might not notice all the deflation until well into the second act—that promising opening, plus the level of talent involved keeps expectations moderately high. In fact, if you’re like me you might almost feel guilty for noticing the things that don’t work. A prime example is the whisperings of the little critters; they’re not only not scary, but actually kind of laughable and then, sadly, even irritating. I kept thinking, “Maybe it’s just me. Maybe others will be creeped out by this kind of stuff.” But, no, let’s be honest... few general audiences are apt to be consistently frightened by this film, and horror audiences are even less likely to be moved. In the end, it probably would have been better to conceive and position this Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark as a PG-13 outing straight down the line: a creature-driven haunted house flick for ten-year-olds but with enough wit, style, and surprises to make happy the grownups who buy the tickets.
Yet instead of sly humor, plot twists, and new takes on old tropes, the filmmakers have played things very conventionally, and the result is a film that takes itself very seriously...but doesn't take the horror fan particularly seriously—not the kind of fan, that is, who's like Del Toro himself, someone who knows the genre inside-out. Thus we get a bathroom sequence that seems poised on the edge of doing something original with this frequently-used horror movie setting… and then doesn’t. We also get an absurdly staged dinner party scene that’s almost cringe-worthy in execution. This same scene, though, could have been neat if the tone being targeted was more in the horror-comedy vein, but a funny bone—even if just to relieve tension—is conspicuously absent in the film. In the end, then, it becomes a bit of a chore just to make it to the closing credits.
Oh, and a final note on the acting, as the cast may be one reason folks have for catching this film. Bailee Madison emerges with her reputation as a talented child actor pretty much intact. Still, it’s not the breakout platform she could have hoped for—her character seems too derivative of the protagonist in Pan’s Labyrinth (which Del Torro actually wrote subsequently), so that the part doesn’t really serve her abilities as well as it might. True, there’s room for some interesting character development, particularly regarding her shift from befriending her malevolent housemates to, well, wanting to avoid them. However, either the script doesn’t sufficiently throw this theme into relief, or Nixey was unable to guide Madison to underscore that through-line in her performance. Either way there’s a missed opportunity. Ditto for Katie Holmes, who’s actually trying very hard here and can be a better actor than people give her credit for. Her role likewise gives early hints of being dimensional but then quickly descends into a variation on the standard trope of the stepmother-trying-to-earn-the-love of-the-stepchild. Worst of all, by far, is the fate suffered by Guy Piece. After reliably solid work in recent films such as The King’s Speech, Animal Kingdom, and The Hurt Locker (not to mention years of interesting starring roles), here he’s reduced to Generic Dad status. You keep thinking as you watch Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark that the film has something up its sleeve, that his character will break out of his blandness any minute—and that that’s when Pierce’s talents will really shine, in those moments of stunning reversal. But he remains generic, despite your waiting for things to kick into another gear and jolt you with innovation, or edginess, or even old-fashioned but effective shocks…
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