Review of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) by Smijatov — 01 Jun 2012

The very opening scene of the trailer made it clear that this was influenced (through production and screenplay) by Guillermo del Torro. This film is rather beautiful visually with some great production design and good cinematography, but it reminds of "Pan's Labyrinth" to such an extent that this is a problem.

They both have magic and children as their basis, with the difference that the Labyrinth is a much better film. The character of Sally is just so inconsistent and annoying at times - the way she behaves is almost implausible to believe.

That's where the film goes into typical "horror" genre, with characters doing stupid choices for no real reason, but to put them in vulnerable positions. Also, the fact that one can see the little creatures kind of completely kills the fear the director managed to instill in the film's first 20-30 minutes.

Yes, they're gross, but they look like little rats. They lose all their scariness, at least for me that was the effect. As I said, the production design is rather beautiful and that is pretty much the highlight of the film.

So nice musical score, too, but that's all there is. The characters are annoying, Guy Pierce's acting as atrocious and Katie Holmes looks perpetually confused and directionless, despite the fact that she was allegedly the first one to figure out what happens.

Definitely an underwhelming film, but it is not necessarily bad. Just not good either. It's mediocre, at its best.