Temor en la Noche

When I was a kid I watched television every day until I was absolutely saturated with popular culture. Although I was an athletic youth, I ran home each day after school to catch the afternoon movie on Detroit's ABC affiliate on Channel 7. I have never forgotten seeing the film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, about a young couple who move into the large rambling home once owned by the woman's grandmother. Something sinister once lurked the basement, but had been sealed within the fireplace by bricks stacked four deep -- the door giving onto the ash bin had been bolted shut. Evil subdued.

However, the first thing that happens when the young couple take over the house, is the wife wants to turn this grungy dank room into her home office. And she just has to have that damned fireplace cleared out and working. An aged handy man warns her against "meddling with things you don't understand," but she doesn't heed him.

Remember, there would be no such thing as horror movies if there weren't stupid people.

Sally, the wife, managed to undo the bolt on the ash bin door. That's all the evil needs to be unleashed through the house in the form of tiny raisin-headed ghouls who look like Smurfs gone bad.

The movie hit me like a piledriver when I was eight years old. It scared the absolute shite out of me. Last night I borrowed this film from a friend, seeking to demystify it. I'm just after watching the film for the first time in twenty five years, and I have to say that this cheesy little horror knock-off still does the job. I don't think it'll keep me up tonight as it had when I was a kid, but the story's simplicity, particularly its makeshift special effects, came off quite effectively.

I've never seen the film on the shelf in a video shop. But if you do come across and are looking for a nostalgic thrill, I think Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is what you're looking for.

Sally Farnham (Kim Darby) and her husband Alex Farnham (Jim Hutton) move to an old mansion that belonged to Sally's grandmother and they hire an interior designer and the carpenter Mr. Harris (William Demarest) to redecorate the manor.

Sally opens a locked door in the house and finds a sealed fireplace and ash pit. She asks Mr. Harris to open the fireplace but the old man argues with her and refuses to follow the order. Sally uses Mr. Harris' wrench to remove the bolts of the ash pit cover. Soon Sally finds that evil little creatures that fear the light have escaped from the underground through the ash pit and are threatening her. However, Alex and her friend Joan Kahn (Barbara Anderson) believe that Sally's imagination is affected by the words of Mr. Harris.

"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" is a simple and effective horror film made for television released in Brazil only on VHS. The story of a young couple that moves to an old house and the wife Kim Darby, the unforgettable Miri of "Star Trek" and the girl Mattie Ross of "True Grit", releases demon-like creatures is original and developed in an adequate pace.

In 2010, Guillermo del Toro remade this film with a lame screenplay that included silly sub-plots and spoiled the original story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Criaturas da Noite" ("Creatures of the Night")

Note: On 15 December 2021, I saw this film again.

Note: On 17 March 2023, I saw this film again in a recently released DVD.

What a sadistically weird movie this was! Have you ever thought you saw something out of the corner of your eye, but when you looked directly at it, it wasn't there? Of course, it was in the shadows, so if it really WERE there, you wouldn't know for sure, would you? That's what this movie is about. Small, dangerous things in the shadows. Of course, they couldn't harm you directly... while you were alert... but they sure could mess you up if, say... they strung a rope across the stairs or did something to you in your sleep.

The theme of this movie is, "Did I really see it?" And of course, we know Kim Darby really did, but it was too late when she finally knew forsure.

As a t.v. movie, it was okay - production, setting, acting, special effects and make-up... but the idea of things... lurking... waiting... made your hair stand up and want to exit the room along with the rest of your body.

And what the heck WERE those things, anyway? They lived in the furnace... or BELOW the furnace - we know that for sure. But were they demons? Goblins? Aliens? And was one of them Kim Darby's grandfather? We never know the answer to this. All we know is they're nasty spiteful little things that want to make you one of them. And, I guess, that was the spookiest part of the story - it never let you know the answer. Just made you wonder what sort of ickies could be lurking below YOUR furnace! The spookiest moment is when Kim ticks one of them off and it makes the nastiest face. You really don't want to tick one of these little creepy-crawlers off.

I watched this movie-of-the-week alone at night really late while I was home by myself. Even though I was well into my teens at the time, I was totally weirded out.

The moral of the story, I guess, is that if you don't want evil miniature creatures to drag your wife off to the nether-regions below your furnace, don't be a workaholic and ignore her when she says she's seeing strange nasties in the corners or the room.

This is one of those little films that lends itself to legendary status, because it is almost impossible to see nowadays. With a great deal of effort and patience, one can find a copy....but it sure isn't easy. So many of us remember seeing it when it aired...I was all but six or seven and remembered only these gnome-like creatures. Recently I was able to see it again....and started to remember a lot more of it. The film is pretty atmospheric as it chronicles the slow then fast menacing of Sally Farnham by pint-sized demons with conical shaped heads. Sally and her husband recently moved into this large house and forsaking the advice of carpenter William Demarest, Sally opens a fireplace which had been sealed over twenty-five years ago. These creatures lived in the fireplace and now they want Sally...to join them. Kim Darby does a good job playing Sally as she slowly descends into madness...as well as other destinations. Forget all the talk about it being only good for a television movie...this is a good movie period. It has loads of atmosphere and suspense, albeit a bit shallow in the area of plot.

I must have seen this movie when I was around 7 or 8 yrs old. This was the scariest movie I had ever seen. I was never afraid of the dark prior to seeing it, but afterward was a different story. When my parents put me to bed my door had to be slightly cracked open the the hallway light on. I slept with my covers over my head and I was so afraid those little creatures were going to get me. I then began telling some neighborhood kids about these little creatures and I don't think their parents were too happy with me. The parents complained to my parent saying I was "scaring their children" and they were having problems sleeping at night. Little did they realize how really scared I was and I guess I just wanted some company....oops. I've brought this movie up to many friends but no one ever seemed to know what I was talking about. But after reading a bunch of these reviews I am relieved to find out that I wasn't the only one scared out of their wits! To this day I really don't care for scary movies, perhaps that is a effect from seeing this movie, who knows? I am happy to report that I no longer am scared of sleeping in the dark :)