Written by Nigel McKeand
Directed by John Newland
Starring Kim Darby, Jim Hutton and Barbara Anderson
USA, 1973
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK is one of those made-for-TV horror movies I've been hearing about for years. It has a reputation for scaring the shit out of people who happened to catch it on television when they were kids, so I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.
Kim Darby plays a woman who moves into an old mansion with her husband (Jim Hutton). While exploring the place, she discovers a sealed fireplace in the basement and, despite warnings from the handyman, decides to have it opened. This turns out to be a bad idea, because there are some nasty little creatures living behind it, and they've been waiting for an opportunity to get out.
The creatures are these weird, whispering little goblin things that spend most of the movie lurking in the shadows and plotting to drag Darby off to wherever it is they came from. Naturally, her husband doesn't believe any of this is happening. After all, she’s a woman, right? She just needs some rest.
I can see why this movie would have made an impression on somebody who stumbled across it on television without knowing what to expect. The idea of tiny creatures hiding in the dark corners of your house is inherently creepy, and their whispering voices are unsettling.
Unfortunately, I watched a lousy VHS print that was so dark I could barely see what was happening half the time. I realize this is a movie called DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, but I wouldn't have minded being able to see a little more of it. This was supposed to be part of the charm of the presentation I saw, which included era-appropriate TV commercials during the ad breaks, but maybe on first viewing I should have sought out a more pristine print. My bad.
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