Attention all Dark Fantasy and Horror enthusiasts! Finally, a good rated R flick, it’s about time, I tell you!
The narrative opens up with a buggy driver (Bruce Gleeson) dropping off a housekeeper (Edwina Ritchard) at the Blackwood house. The housekeeper dusts the books off in the library and has a meal freshly prepared for Blackwood (Garry McDonald). The housekeeper calls to Blackwood as she proceeds to go down into his study, but no answer. She calls to him again and we see a shadow on the ground revealing the presence of Blackwood, but again no answer until she begins to walk away from the room. She creeps slowly down the steps looking vigilantly and terrified, and then missing a step, she tumbles down smashing head against the concrete while the dark atmosphere is filling with disembodied voices, and the film cuts to the present inside of a BMW, and we are introduced to the three main characters of the narrative: Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), Kim (Katie Holmes), and Alex (Guy Pearce). Sally is a curious little girl that is suffering from depression due to her parent’s divorce. Sally is sent to live with her father Alex who buys old mansions so he can restore them and then turn around and sell them while Kim (Alex’s girlfriend) is an interior decorator who is having a hard time trying to befriend Sally. The three main protagonists arrive at the mansion and Alex introduces Sally to Harris (Jack Thompson), who is the head contractor and groundskeeper. Sally is given a tour throughout the manor and she is shown to her bedroom. Sally decides to sleep early in her new bed while her father shows her how to use her new night light. Sally can hear her father and Kim fooling around through the vents.
Sally can hear her name being called, so she follows the voices to an area behind the house where Harris finds her and tells her not to return to that place again. Alex and Kim are alarmed to find Harris manhandle his daughter as he tells Alex his concerns. Sally insists on there being a basement in the house, and she shows her father the window leading bellow. Grabbing a sledge hammer, Alex smashes through a hollow space in the wall under the stairs where they find a secret door, and they proceed to walk down the steps and look at Blackwood’s study and work area. Sally is focused on the bolted furnace door. Her curiosity and carelessness unleashes the ancient race of fairy like creatures that thrive on human bones. Sally became mesmerized by the beings then she became extremely terrified, and she wants to protect her family but she has to convince her skeptical father that these creatures exist.
The film gets an A! I have not seen anything that terrifying and mesmerizing since William Blatty’s The Exorcist. You want to look away, but your sadist masochist nature forces your gaze towards the terror. Guillermo Del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a tour-de-force of suspense and terror, especially, since the film will captivate and ensnare the audience from the opening exposition of a Victorian era. Guillermo Del Toro dives into a story, setting, and suspense of Lovecraftian proportions, even though, the creatures in the story are of miniature stature, the damage and violence in numbers supersedes their size. The architectural structure of the Blackwood house is very creepy and gothic as it comes to life as a character as well as a setting. The sound was just as terrifying as the visuals. Great use of mise-en-scene, the blue and yellow filters gave the film a dark and a hazy setting while the sound took the film to another ethereal level, especially, with all of the voices and whispers. The lighting and the use of shadows were a work of art, especially, during the visuals of the creature’s eyes refracting light in the darkness. The acting is really impressing creating such a dark mood while creating a colorful array of character flaws and strength in a modern age is feat to reckon with. One begins to care and empathize with the characters, amazing. The writing is captivating and filled with emotion causing the narrative to move flawlessly throughout its allocated time. The film did not feel rushed, nor did the scenes seem out of place. The tension and suspense is cleverly worked and well crafted, and I have a feeling that if I watched those same scenes I would still jump up and cringe with ghastly terror. Thanks to the direction of Troy Nixey, the writing of Guillermo Del Toro and Mathew Robbins, this frightening remake will cause me to sleep with a flashlight near my bedside tonight. I highly recommend this film. If you have seen it, please let me know what you think? How did it make you feel? Did you care about any of the characters or not?
No comments:
Post a Comment