On October 10, 1973, just in time for Halloween, television audiences were treated to a spooky offering from the ABC network that stayed with them long after they watched it. Following a young couple who inherit an old mansion, a demon-infested old mansion, as the hellish occupants attempt to take the wife for their own, it didn’t rely on outward gross-out violence, like many modern horror films, but “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” has remained a staple late-night creep-fest for over the last 30 years, thanks to its capability to deliver some of the perfect ingredients for a good horror show: a big frightening house, creepy whispering voices, gloomy lighting, things those go bump in the night and gnarly, pale looking creature. And don’t be surprised that it was also a movie that scared the heck out of the visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro when he was a little boy. Admitted it among the scariest ever made, Del Toro eagerly wanted to make it contemporary and actually has wrote the script about 12 years ago, well before he had written “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Even when he wrote Labyrinth, Del Toro has borrowed a lot of the themes and details from his “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” script. In order to make it current, he and co-writer Matthew Robbins indeed takes minor departures from the source film but keeps the core concept the same – demon-like inhabitants looking to claim a human being as one of their own. Del Toro explains that very few people have been able to see the original and the remake is intended to honor and reformulate that movie. However, though the film was a passion project for him but Del Toro decided not to direct because of his commitment to other projects. Instead, former comic book artist Troy Nixey was brought on board and this will also mark his first feature gig, following on from his brilliant work with the animated short "Latchkey's Lament". But don’t be worried, just like he has served as a creative mentor to Juan Antonio Bayona with “The Orphanage,” Del Toro will also help to separate Nixey’s debut feature from the horror pack. And judging from the trailer, the effect and atmosphere in this one anticipated film is indeed look frightening and bone chilling, favouring old-fashioned, slow-burn dread over modern horrors' cheap shocks and flashy editing. Reviews from very early screenings also have been raves and claim the filmmakers have achieved the aim they started out with - to make a genuinely frightening film, leads us to believe that scary movie fans aren't going to be let down.

Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring, in hopes that it will get them coverage in an architecture magazine. While exploring to the depths of the sprawling estate, the young girl gains access to a secret lower level that has lain undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. There, she realizes that the old mansion holds its fair share of secrets especially when she unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creatures who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths. The only way to prevent them from destroying her family, Sally must convince her skeptical father and Kim that it’s not a fantasy and evils from the dark really exist.

         

Few details you should be afraid of:

# Budgeted at an estimated $12.5 million, the movie was filmed at Melbourne, Australia.

# James Wong (Final Destination) was originaly going to direct when it was announced in 2002.

# The initial release date was scheduled for January 21, 2011 but due to the sale of Miramax by Disney, the release was put on hold until the sale was finalized. On February 14, 2011, it was announced that the film would be released on August 12, 2011. But, it was delayed yet again for a release date of August 26, 2011.

# This picture, which was developed with Miramax but in the wake of the division's closure will be released by FilmDistrict, was rated R despite filmmaker ambitions to the contrary. "We originally thought we could shoot it as PG-13 without compromising the scares," Del Toro said. "And then the MPAA came back and gave us a badge of honor. They gave us an R for 'pervasive scariness.' We asked them if there's anything we could do, and they said, 'Why ruin a perfectly scary movie?'"