The 1970s was truly the golden era of the made-for-TV horror movie, and "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" is a pretty good example of the genre. Fondly remembered by those who saw it at an impressionable age, it succeeds at creeping out its viewers. It's got very respectable atmosphere, and an appreciable level of mystery to its diminutive terrors. Just where *did* they come from? All we know is the level of fear experienced by our appealing main character, Sally Farnham (played by the very cute Kim Darby), especially as her stubbornly skeptical husband, Alex (Jim Hutton) doesn't take her seriously.

Sally and Alex have moved into her deceased grandmother's home, complete with a study and a sealed-up fireplace. Sally wants the fireplace opened up, despite the warnings from their cagey caretaker, Mr. Harris (screen veteran William Demarest) to leave things as they are. Her curiosity gets the better of her, and her actions lead to the release of three beings who are dead set on getting their hands on her.

Fortunately, Sally is not the type of person to only do the stupid thing, so it's easy enough to sympathize with her and be chilled by how the story plays out. Darby is fine as Sally, and Hutton is good as Alex; able support is provided by Demarest, Barbara Anderson as Sally's friend Joan Kahn, and Pedro Armendariz Jr. as the briefly seen Francisco Perez. Andrew Jackson's cinematography is appropriately moody and the music score by Billy Goldenberg is excellently spooky. If there's a criticism to be made here, it's only that the three onion headed demons in the movie (played by Felix Silla, Tamara De Treaux, and Patty Maloney) are shown too much, and should have been revealed just a bit at a time.

Still, this is fun stuff and worth a look for fans of "old school" horror.

Remade by filmmaker and fan Guillermo Del Toro for theatres 37 years later.

Seven out of 10.

A switch of the light on or a camera flash going off scares off the nasty little men living behind the basement fireplace closed off for years in the house inherited by socially awkward Kim Darby from her grandfather, and after handyman William Demarest warns Darby and her handsome husband Jim Hutton of the necessity to keep it closed up, Darby decides to dig it open anyway. Out pops these furious creatures intent on grabbing Darby's spirit to join them inside their fireplace home forever, and they are determined that nothing will stand in their way,

Demarest, as we learn, knows of their existence, threatened with violence if he exposes their existence before they make their move on Darby. They also have the tendency to appear to Darby at the most inopportune times, causing Darby to go bonkers during a lavish dinner party she throws which brings alarm to her husband. When they try to attack her while she's in the shower, it becomes apparent what they want but it is also revealed what scares them away. Hutton can't be around his wife 24/7 so this leaves plenty of time for Darby (given the chore of redecorating, so she is always home) to be attacked.

I truly did get frightened a few times in this classic TV horror movie, and indeed, the dark did become very frightening. Darby ("True Grit") and Hutton are certainly an odd couple. She doesn't really feel comfortable in large social gatherings so when she throws the dinner party, her social awkwardness is revealed, making for a unique heroine, sort of like Joan Hackett in the "Bobby" segment of the TV movie "Dead of Night" and more famously Karen Black in "Trilogy of Terror" dealing with an African warrior doll. Demarest is cranky but honest, even if he can't tell all he knows, and it's nice to see him in one of his very last acting roles, having been around since the 1930's.

Barbara Anderson as Darby's friend and soap veteran Lesley Woods (at least 11 daytime dramas) as the housekeeper also give good performances with Anderson trying to boost Darby's confidence to no avail not only with the dinner party but with dealing with these scary little critters as well. A nice little surprise, reminding audiences of how good these B films made directly for TV (basically replacing the programmers of the golden age of Hollywood) could be when they had a good script and interesting characters to write about.