In an age where the term "horror movie" is synonymous with blood and guts, every so often one comes along that decides to buck the trend. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is one such movie. An atmospheric, slow-building, suspenseful, flawed masterpiece, this film grabs at the nerves and dangles them in front of the blade until those moments when it saws at them with a relentless zeal. Guillermo Del Toro is a man known for generally imbuing greatness into any film he produces or directs. The Orphanage. Pan's Labyrinth. Hellboy. All of these have been slathered with his special sauce. This time, I have to admit, I had my doubts. With director Troy Nixey, a former comic book artist, helming this movie, I was skeptical that this guy would be able to to avoid the appearance of being a novie, first time director. Fortunately, I was proven wrong. The thing about this movie that's most flawed is not Nixey's more-than-adequate direction. The weak point is, in fact, the screenplay, which focuses too much on the family drama, rather than the scares. Granted, the scenes between the main characters are sufficiently emotionally charged to be worth paying attention to, they ultimately do not mean much to the story. The horror scenes, however, are so damned effective, so well-done, that they manage to put the great majority of modern horror pieces to shame. You will feel your heart beating against your chest as multitudes of miniscule creatures skitter towards the protagonists with a bloodthirsty hunger. You will feel the realization as... well, you'll find out. Though this isn't the perfect horror movie, it is a great modern example of the genre. A stark, suspenseful trip through an aboveground Hell that any horror fan cannot afford to miss.

"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" is a film with a good horror-fantasy plot but not very well executed, the cinematography does its job, the acting is good but the direction is weak. It could be a better film.

A young girl is sent to live with her estranged father and his girlfriend at their new home.

The father, Alex has plans to spruce up the home with the help of his interior decorator girlfriend, Kim.

The previous owner of the home was a famous painter who mysteriously disappeared.

Alex's daughter, Sally, soon discovers the cause of the painter's disappearance.....

This is one of those films that has a famous Autuers name on some producing credit to give the movie that little bit more gravitas.

Del Toro stated that he wanted to make this as it was his favourite TV mini series of the seventies. And good grief is the film bad.

Like the re-make of 'The Haunting' the house is beautiful and so are the sets, but you come to see a horror movie to be scared, or be put under a little tension, not to see anorexic gremlins bully a little girl.

Pearce and Holmes have zero chemistry and the only reason this hasn't got one star is because, to my knowledge the first time that Mike and Jim Robinson from hit Aussie soap 'Neighbours' have been in the same room on the big screen.

otherwise, it's dull, don't let the Del Toro credit fool you.