Filmstalker: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark trailer

Presented by Guillermo del Toro doesn't always mean a lot but you can be assured of a spooky ride and some cool effects, and all are far too apparent in the trailer for Don't Be Afraid of the Dark starring the excellent Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes.

The film was directed by Troy Nixey and is a remake of a 1973 film for television. It tells the story of a young girl who is sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend in their new home. However there's something scary about the house and soon she discovers that there are creatures there who want to claim her as their own.

It's a common thread we're seeing with Guillermo del Toro associated films, and one that reminds me of the excellent Coraline (Filmstalker review), but that shouldn't put you off. What perhaps might are the annoying standard tricks employed in the trailer that do become slightly irritating all too quickly.

The briefest glimpses of scenes which are faded in and out at high speed, the sudden volume increase in sound effects and music from a whisper to heighten the scare, and the anticipation moments of "look we're going to show you something" followed by a full frame reveal. It is getting a little old?

I certainly think it is in the trailer for Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, but I'm won over by the fact that Guy Pearce is starring in it and I'm intrigued to see how far Katie Holmes has come.

You can see the trailer for Don't Be Afraid of the Dark below through Deadline, see what you think. You can also see it in Quicktime high definition through Yahoo Movies. Scary enough for you?

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I could feel the Guillermo Del Toro influence here as soon as I saw the wooden crafted door in the beginning and it looks to me like it borrows heavily, if only for a few scenery, on El orfanato (The Orphanage) another movie presented by Guillermo Del Toro. At least for the opening part and I got nothing wrong with that because I am very much enamored with that particular movie.

Then the monsters, the fast cuts, the quick hint at the mythology of the film and the crawling finale that inevitably ends with a shocker kicks in and in the end, we're presented with a trailer that sets the movie as probably just another American horror flick.

Although, since trailers are such particular beasts and are sometimes(often?) rather removed from the material they try to sell, I'm still gonna pay the ticket to see it at the theatre come its release. I'm a big horror movie buff.

Posted by: Vash the Otaku | June 1, 2011 4:01 PM

I remember seeing El orfanato (The Orphanage), and I can see the connections there too.

You're right about trailers, they are "particular beasts", however I think that's because the companies who make them are fitting into what is expected. They, and the studios who accept them, are the ones who are creating the beasts that they are. Couldn't they just push for something a little different? A little better?

You're also right about the fact that horror fans, and GDT fans, will still go and see this regardless, and good for them, it might turn out to be damned good.

Posted by: Richard Brunton | June 26, 2011 6:38 PM