Comic artist Troy Nixey's debut feature Don't Be Afraid Of The
Dark, co-written by Guillermo del Toro, actually screened in
full at last year's Comic-Con, as it was originally supposed to hit
theaters in January of this year. With Disney selling off Miramax, the
very scary flick was left in limbo until FilmDistrict picked it up
earlier this year. A remake of a forgotten '70s flick, it tells the story
of a young girl who moves into a creepy New England mansion with her
father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes). She discovers
a secret basement and ventures into it, only to awaken the ghost of L.
Ron Hubbard, who won't rest until the entire family is Clear.
Oh, wait, that's not right. Instead she stirs up a group of incredibly
scary little monsters who proceed, as supernatural creatures do, to get
wild. This film has been done for a year, so there wasn't anything new
here to see. What there was was excellent, with great atmosphere and a
serious sense of tension and dread. They showed the trailer again, and
the crowd was well into it. Nixey talked about the fact that the
creatures - which are quite small - were originally rejected by the
studio, which thought that they should be larger. The tiny, implacable
creatures are unique and terrifying. In the words of Del Toro - "These
little f-ers never give up." It'll be great to finally see this in the
theater.
