There’s something in the walls in ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a silly horror remake that relies on that often-used genre cliché: a strange child who is haunted by something ghastly. What did all these children do to earn such scary roles? From The Omen to The Exorcist to Insidious and Children of the Corn, kiddies have a tough time in the horror genre.

Based on a 1973 made-for-television movie starring Kim Darby, the 2011 update stars an uninspired Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes as a young couple who have taken on the difficult task of renovating a beautiful mansion in the woods. So, right from the get-go, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark falls victim to not only weird children, but that other movie cliché: the lead characters having jobs that are fairly unbelievable. How many people out there are competing to renovate a house for the cover of Architectural Digest? Where are all the nurses and teachers? Maybe a pharmaceutical rep or data analyst? Hell, I’ll take a garbageman or flight attendant.

Alex (Pearce) and Kim (Holmes) are living a beautiful movie life. Nothing seems to go wrong for the couple. Then, Alex’s daughter from a previous marriage shows up. Sally (Bailee Madison) has been shuffled away from her mother and forced to take up residence with her father. Problem is that Alex doesn’t want her around all the time either. He’s too enamored with his young girlfriend and burgeoning career.

This disconnect between father and daughter gives Sally the chance to explore the renovated mansion. She opens doors, peers around corners and takes long walks in the garden. The laconic little girl who seems to be a ghost herself (straight black hair, bags under her eyes) begins to suspect something is awry when she discovers a dark, dusty vault underneath the house. There, within the innards of the mansion, is a nest of little rat-like gremlins that run around the house just out of view of the family and waitstaff.

Being that this a horror movie, Sally discovers the truth about the little critters, but no one believes her tall tales. I’m beginning to believe that lazy horror tales are mere rehashes of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Is originality all but dead?

The actual gremlins, or trolls, or fairies, or whatever you want to call them, are little CGI beasts that look like a cross between a rat and a bat. It takes a long time to get a full view of one of the little guys, and, to be honest, it’s not worth the wait. They’re never explained, except for a silly backstory involving the original owner of the mansion, and they simply wreak their little havoc. The movie amounts to a glorified retread of Small Soliders or Arachnophobia: big people, small baddies.

Pearce, who is an accomplished actor, seems lost in the movie. His character is one note and never offers anything to the story. Holmes is passable, but also a victim to the restrictive conventions of the horror genre.

Madison is a very skilled young actress, but she’s not given much to work with in the movie. She screams a lot and cries a lot, but that’s about the extent of her characterization. Although she is admittedly a “big girl” who has had to deal with “big-girl” issues her entire life, the screenwriters treat her like an adult. Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, who wrote the script based on Nigel McKeand’s 1973 teleplay, can’t get comfortably into the mind of a little girl. They make her an unlikely heroine, when most kids her age would simply run away and cry.

Director Troy Nixey keeps everything fast paced, and there are some genuine jump-out-of-your-seat moments. There’s one sequence where Sally is thrashing around in her bed under the covers that was particularly scary. But Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark simply can’t make good on the promise of its title. It’s neither scary nor dark. It’s actually a bore.

• Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

• 2011

• Directed by Troy Nixey

• Written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins; based on the 1973 teleplay by Nigel McKeand

• Starring Bailee Madison, Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes

• Running time: 99 minutes

• Rated R for violence and terror

• Rating:

• Click here to purchase Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark on DVD.

• Click here to purchase the original Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark on DVD.