Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark begins with all the trappings of a good horror story: an ominous ancient mansion, a deal with devilry – even a Victorian-era curbstomp.

The films then jumps to the present day when unseen monsters begin to persuade Sally, an angsty eight-year-old who moves into said mansion with her father and his new girlfriend, into setting them free from centuries of captivity. “What are you?” asks Sally, fearful but curious. “Hungry,” reply the demons in hoarse unison. These early scenes deliver genuine terror, and impressive camerawork and production design, breathing life into the gothic mansion and its ghoulish inhabitants.

As the film wears on, however, it becomes increasingly clear that the demons have no relation to the characters’ personal struggles, and the house’s haunting feels more like coincidence. Compare this to Pan’s Labyrinth,, also associated with Guillermo del Toro (who produced and co-wrote Dark), where a different young girl encounters persuasive, treacherous beasts of her own. The monsters reflect the realities of the horrific war around her, and her imagination helps her confront obstacles on her own terms.

Sally, by contrast, faces the fairly mundane experience of disliking her stepmom-to-be – and not much else. That is, until she gets attacked by monsters from the basement. Even then, though, there is no mystery (we know the demons exist), no internal conflict and nothing at stake. The challenges demand little personal growth, and the only thing the monsters test is Sally’s prowess in physical combat. Far from a story driven by character development, then, the film is simply about waiting for monsters to attack a little girl – an acceptable payoff only if there were any reason to care about Sally in the first place.

The ending—without revealing too much—may come across as poignant, but in reality is simply a character exhibiting some common sense for the first time in the film. If that’s what the screenwriters call a climax, then I’m not afraid of the dark– I’m afraid of a sequel.