When Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) set out to update the scariest movie he'd ever seen as a child -- the 1973 made-for-television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, about inhabitants of a house who discover sinister creatures living in the basement -- he intended to frighten and thrill a new generation of youngsters. Even co-star Katie Holmes, who makes a rare genre appearance in the Del Toro-produced and co-scripted horror pic, found the script to so terrifying that she knew she had to do it. But is Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, as the MPAA deemed, too scary for kids?
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Where have America's sweethearts gone? Seventeen-year-old Dakota Fanning is charging hard towards adulthood, with Abigail Breslin (15), Chloe Moretz (14), and sister Elle (13) hot on her heels. Enter 11-year-old Bailee Madison (Bridge to Terabithia, Conviction, Just Go With It), a young actress who's already been acting for half of her life and shows it by holding her own opposite Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes in the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror thriller Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.
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Troy Nixey's upcoming film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark shares elements in common with producer Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth -- the little girl heroine, the gothic old mansion, a world of fantastical creatures with sinister secrets -- but its supernatural antagonists are tinier, scarier, and way more desperate for you to come "play" with them. Find out more about the goblin-like "homunculi" that live in the basement in two new clips from the upcoming horror-fantasy.
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Before Sunday night's L.A. Film Fest premiere of the August horror pic Don't Be Afraid of the Dark succumbed to an unfortunate series of annoyances -- a fire alarm temporarily evacuated the theater midway through, while chaos reigned at the post-screening cell phone check -- producer and co-writer Guillermo del Toro emphasized what, hopefully, will make Don't Be Afraid of the Dark memorable: Its "pervasive scariness," so terrifying that the MPAA deemed it too frightening for its intended rating.
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