just watch it!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This is scary without tons of blood. It does have some killing in it, but mostly it's creatures popping up in front or on the sides of the camera and they only appear in the dark, which means most of the movie is in darkness. Like the theater.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010): Dir: Troy Nixey / Cast: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Jack Thompson, Alan Dale: Laughable haunted house horror farce about facing one's fears. Never have I heard so much laughter during a horror film as I did here. I had to check to see if I had entered the wrong theatre. It was as though I was watching a comedy. Bailee Madison stars as a young girl whose parents have split and she is sent to live with her father. He moves her into a big house and she immediately disapproves of his girlfriend. Soon she is hearing voices that request that she release them out of the basement. These little creatures cannot face sunlight, which reminds us not only why Gremlins works better, but also why it is so much better. Listening to these creatures whisper is so lame that it had the audience in an uproar of laughter. Madison fares well against the nonsense dealing both with feelings of neglect and acceptance. Katie Holmes also holds her own as the new woman in daddy's life. She goes from discouraged to investigating Madison's claims and comes to startling realizations. The ending here is complete bullshit with that whole self sacrifice crap. Guy Pearce plays Madison's father whose job is to not believe her claims and be irritated easily. Jack Thompson plays some old geezer who knows the house's past and ends up in the hospital for trying to do something about it. Director Troy Nixey makes great use of lighting for ominous appeal but it doesn't make up for the juvenile screenplay. Special effects look fantastic but it is not the dark that one needs to be leery of. It's the level of laughter. Score: 4 / 10

I am truly shocked that this film has such a low IMDb rating. Here is a finely crafted, skilfully directed, well acted, and beautifully filmed fantasy horror film. It is a shame that a good film like this has to be lumped with the likes of standard horror movie crap. I was hypnotized by the visuals, which reminded me of the great film Pan's Labyrinth (both films come from the same creator, Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro). Since nobody else seems to want to defend this movie, I will. It is based off an earlier TV movie of the same name which apparently inspired Del Toro to become a filmmaker. Sally (Bailee Madison) comes to live with her father (Guy Pierce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in their newly refurbished manor. This place has a history of death, in fact the last owner of it mysteriously vanished. Soon it becomes clear to Sally that there is something else living in the house with them, an ancient presence that whispers through the walls and that leaves coins under pillows in exchange for teeth. . . . Of course, nobody believes Sally, until it's too late! One of the things I really like about the film is it's look. I like the use of colour throughout, especially the autumn hues. Outside the house is always portrayed as cold, with shades of blue and grey. We are always drawn back into the interior of the house, with it's cozy shades of orange, yellow, and brown. I feel like the makers of this really put a lot of effort into making each shot look great, and it really pays off. The acting is good. Pierce and Holmes are competent, but the show is really stolen by Madison. She is very convincing as a girl haunted by demons, she seems actually terrified, and the film becomes all the more scarier because of it. There's only one jump scare in the entire film, that I remember, and it's not unfairly placed. This film doesn't limit itself to horror clichés, but delves deeper into the fantasy realm, which I appreciated. The atmosphere is palpable throughout. To finish off, I would completely recommend this film for lovers of fantasy horror. It's worth checking out.

While the concept was alright, the crew producing the movie was excellent, the execution was horrible.The characters never use COMMON SENSE whatsoever. And I know many people lack it, but it gets way too ridiculous.That one part the girl caught one, no one mentioned that at all.There were too many parts that didn't add up to any realistic scenario and to me, that killed most of it's little contribution to horror films.The dad is a total moron.The people get "knocked up" and wake up coincidentally at specific moments, even if they get shaken up or stuff happens that should wake em up anyway.The critters are fun but I believe they're executed with a WANKERey attitude. These could be used much better than this crap.