Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Some houses don't need to be haunted. They just need something underneath them to wake up.
Director
Troy Nixey
Release
7 October 2011
Runtime
99 Minutes
Certificate
15
Synopsis
Sally Hurst arrives at Blackwood Manor to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim. Alex is an architect restoring the enormous old property, but Sally has little enthusiasm for either the house or her new family situation. Exploring the grounds eventually leads her towards a part of the mansion that has remained sealed. A basement. Inside is an old fireplace that appears to have been deliberately closed. Then Sally hears the voices. Something behind the grate begins whispering to her. The creatures know how to exploit exactly what Sally needs. They promise friendship. They encourage her curiosity. And eventually Sally opens the barrier separating them from the house. She soon discovers that whatever lives beneath Blackwood Manor isn't interested in becoming her friend. Small, vicious creatures begin emerging from the darkness. Sally tries desperately to explain what she's seen, but the adults initially struggle to believe her. As the attacks grow more dangerous, Kim begins to realise Sally isn't imagining what's happening. There is something inside the house. Something connected to Blackwood Manor's disturbing past. And now that Sally has released it, closing the door again won't be easy.
The Movie Trailer
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark turns an old mansion, a locked basement and a child's curiosity into the ingredients for a dark supernatural nightmare.
Young Sally Hurst is sent to live with her father, Alex, and his girlfriend, Kim, while the couple restore an imposing nineteenth-century mansion.
Sally already feels unwanted and isolated.
Then she begins hearing voices.
They whisper from somewhere beneath the house.
At first, the voices seem almost friendly.
They know Sally's name.
They understand that she's lonely.
And they desperately want her to open the entrance that has kept them hidden.
Sally eventually gives in to her curiosity.
What she releases has been waiting in the darkness for a very long time.
And convincing the adults around her that the creatures exist may prove almost as difficult as surviving them.
THE VOICES
They Know Sally Is Lonely Before They Ever Show Their Faces
The creatures don't attack Sally.
They begin by talking to her.
That's what makes their presence beneath the house so effective.
Sally has arrived somewhere unfamiliar, surrounded by adults occupied with their own lives.
Then voices in the darkness appear to understand exactly how she feels.
They offer companionship before revealing what they actually want.
By the time Sally understands that the whispers aren't friendly, she's already opened the door.
BLACKWOOD MANOR
Somebody Sealed That Basement for a Reason
Old houses always contain evidence of the people who lived there before.
Blackwood Manor contains warnings.
Locked rooms.
Forgotten spaces.
A fireplace deliberately sealed from the outside.
Everything suggests somebody once understood what lived underneath the house.
The tragedy is that those warnings become mysteries.
And mysteries invite investigation.
Sally doesn't realise she's discovering something new.
She's undoing precautions somebody else put in place long ago.
BELIEVE HER
Seeing the Monsters Isn't Sally's Only Problem
Being a child makes Sally particularly vulnerable.
Not simply because she's physically unable to defend herself, but because nobody has to believe her.
Every impossible thing she describes can be dismissed as imagination.
Every warning sounds like another frightened child's story.
That gives the creatures an enormous advantage.
They can remain hidden while Sally becomes increasingly desperate.
Only when Kim starts taking Sally seriously does the balance begin to shift.
By then, however, the things beneath Blackwood Manor are no longer content to whisper.