Movie Review: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

I thought I'd go back and watch the 2011 film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, in preparation to see his newest film Pacific Rim later today.

Based on a 1973 TV Movie of the same name, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, focuses on a young girl, Sally, who has just moved from her mother's home in California to her fathers home on the East Coast of the United States.  The house itself, basically your giant creepy/elegant haunted house is pretty amazing.  As with all movies of this type, something creepy is going on in the house, and it seems to want Sally.

Unlike a lot of other stories however, the "something" in the house is pretty unique and also pretty terrifying.  Much of the movie focuses on what Sally discovers in the house and then how her Father and his new girlfriend react.

Personally, I found the film to be a lot of fun, and in addition to the house, it features both a library and a male librarian!  Which as a male librarian in training is always nice to see.

There are definitely some terrifying scenes, and if you wanted to watch it with kids, I might recommend you pre-screen it first, to see if it's the kind of thing your kid would like.