The line between clever references to classic horror conventions and producing undigested clichés is a fine one and director Troy Nixey seems to me to be dealing in clichés more than anything else.Īnother cliché is the idea of the young girl being more intuitively connected with the supernatural and evil than the adults, and especially the men, like her father. This is a classic horror convention seen in films like The Amityville Horror (1979), The Shining (1980) and Hellraiser (1987). The monsters seem to be connected with the house, they disappear into the house to be one with the building. The little girl hears the creatures’ voices in the house and traces them through the plumbing to their source in the basement. More isn’t always merrier and even though they are both elegant and mean, they are neither as suggestive nor as cruel as the ones in John Newlands version.ĭon´t Be Afraid of the Dark is filled with classic horror elements, like the big house with its enormous staircase connecting the floors and a basement where the evil dwells, seemingly remembering the past of the house.
I can’t help to think of the vicious small flying creatures of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), particularly as del Toro has co-written and produced the film. In the 2010 version there are many more of them and they are small human-faced sharp-toothed little creatures with rat-like bodies moving fast and nervously around their victims. In the 1973 version the monsters are three lumpy masked midgets. The main focus is now often on the monsters and how they are designed. Simultaneously there is a trend to polish away the often edgy social critique and deeper meanings of the originals. They can now do almost exactly what they want, thanks to computer technology like CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery). One of the main reasons for this seems to be that filmmakers aren’t restrained by technological possibilities in the same way anymore. Such remakes can easily be said to constitute a contemporary trend. This is a remake of John Newlands made-for-television film from 1973 and, as such, one of many remakes of classic horror movies from the 1970s and 80s that have seen the light of day recently The Last House on the Left (1972/2009), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974/2003), Black Christmas (1974/2006), The Hills Have Eyes (1977/2006), Toolbox Murders (1978/2004), Dawn of the Dead (1978/2004), Halloween (1978/2007), The Thing (1982/2011), Fright Night (1985/2011) and several more. Small mean creatures soon start whispering to Sally and she pursues them down to the basement of the house where they seem to live. The previous owner was a painter who disappeared under strange circumstances. Alex is an architect restoring the house with the help of Kim, an interior decorator.
Against her will, a young girl, Sally (Bailee Madison), moves in with her estranged father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) in an enormous old house called Blackwood Mansion.
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