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Guy Pearce To Battle The Homunculus In The DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK Remake!
Beaks here...
Never heard of the Homunculus? Take a good long look.
That little bastard and his buddies have been making it difficult for me to walk down flights of cellar stairs for the last thirty fucking years. Still have no idea what I'm talking about? Well, you need to track down a copy of the 1973 TV Movie DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, which stars Kim Darby as a woman who won't listen to William Demarest (i.e. common sense). As a result, the Homunculi get loose and people die. This shit never happened on MY THREE SONS.
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK may not be a classic horror film, but anyone who ran across it on the Creature Feature back in the pre-cable days surely remembers those monsters. Producer Guillermo del Toro and director Troy Nixey are gambling on this with their remake, which a) is scheduled to begin shooting next month in Australia and b) just added a couple of cast members in Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Madison will play the young girl who discovers the strange creatures in her father's house. Pearce will play her disbelieving dad. They'll join Katie Holmes, who was already cast as Pearce's girlfriend.
Del Toro and Matthew Robbins have written the script, and, obviously, reconfigured the plot. This is a good thing, since the original was a little thin on narrative. And yet it's still giving me nightmares.
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK may not be a classic horror film, but anyone who ran across it on the Creature Feature back in the pre-cable days surely remembers those monsters. Producer Guillermo del Toro and director Troy Nixey are gambling on this with their remake, which a) is scheduled to begin shooting next month in Australia and b) just added a couple of cast members in Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Madison will play the young girl who discovers the strange creatures in her father's house. Pearce will play her disbelieving dad. They'll join Katie Holmes, who was already cast as Pearce's girlfriend.
Del Toro and Matthew Robbins have written the script, and, obviously, reconfigured the plot. This is a good thing, since the original was a little thin on narrative. And yet it's still giving me nightmares.
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AWESOME!!
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when I was 7, and it was freaky scary then! The things looked kinda like jawas.
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Jun 30, 2009 1:33:40 AM CDT
~~~DUDE! THIS SCARED THE LIVING S**T OUTTA ME!~~~
by the marquis de side 3
this was NOT the thing to watch when you were 11 years old, believe me. Del Toro is going to rip this out of hell...
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I have been waiting forever.
Word!
http://tinyurl.com/6rty5m -
...along with the night gallery sequence with roddy mcdowell and the cemetary painting, the doll story in trilogy of terror, kolchak: the night stalker, the lizzie borden movie starring elizabeth montgomery, satan's school for girls, and many many more.
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Jun 30, 2009 1:48:11 AM CDT
HEY SATAN BILLY MAYS HERE,WANNA KEEP MICHAEL JACKSON OUT OF...
by supercowbell5thecowbellhasspoken
HEAVEN? THATS RIGHT FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF 29.99, YOU CAN KEEP MICHAEL JACKSON OUT OF HEAVEN. I CAN PLACE PICTURES OF MICHAEL JACKSONS BOOK OF ILLUSTRATIONS OF NUDE BOYS THAT POLICE SEIZED, ALL IN OR AROUND THE PEARLY GATES OF HEAVEN, ALONG WITH COURT DOCUMENTS AND ACTUAL EVIDENCE PROVING HE WAS A PEDOPHILE!! ACT NOW AND ILL SHOW GOD A PICTURE OF HIS PENIS INCLUDING THE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THAT HIS ACCUSER GAVE TO THE POLICE!! THATS RIGHT, ALL FOR THE LOW PRICE OF 29.99, YOU CAN KEEP A PEDOPHILE OUT OF HEAVEN!! BUT WAIT! THERES EVEN MORE!! ACT NOW AND ILL THROW IN A CAN OF FREE JESUS JUICE!!
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The original's horrific thrust involved a subtle implication of demonic rape through all eternity. Which was kind of great because... well, hunt down the tape (and hopefully a DVD release, right?) So if it's a daughter the creatures are after- this has the possibility to be really f---ing uncomfortable. Even better if the filmmakers let it happen.
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Jun 30, 2009 2:06:46 AM CDT
Thats "Are you Afraid of the Dark?", nothing to do with this mov
by mike_d
sucks I know.
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At the Hellboy 2 fan screening in Hollywood last summer.
He was a cool guy.. -
he's perfect for this role, this news makes me squeal with joy
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Jun 30, 2009 2:42:22 AM CDT
HEY HARRY, I AM A DEVOTEE OF DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
by the green gargantua
I can't believe this is fucking happening, so random.
The Gargoyles is next! -
Jun 30, 2009 2:43:58 AM CDT
Is it Shakespeare? Do I need to leave my brain at the door?
by trannyformers_apologist
Will it be a summer blockbuster? Will it have a prequel comic ?
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I was just talking about "Gargoyles" in another TB, and thinking about Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Satan's School for Girls. So far one is getting remade; can the other two be far behind?
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You are afraid of your own cellar? I pity you, you ridiculous man.
Another shitty horror movie with a child discovering a dark secret and a disbelieving adult disbelieving her really sounds like a bold new move in Hollywood. Way to go guys! Keep it experimental! Keep your viewers on the edge!!
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should be remade! This was one of my first nightmare inducing movies as a kid. Havent seen it since, but still get a sense of goose skin from the pic. I'll look forward to this!
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I think they are going into production now or any second. Tom & Katie landed in Melbourne yesterday, according to a minor news report...and the aussie scientologists are creaming themselves!!! Jamie Packer is already showering them with closeted gay (scientology) love!
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Maybe Del Toro does too?...
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Seriously, I cannot get behind a movie with Katie Holmes. Guy Pearce, however, brings the awesome. Batman Begins was great despite the Holmes (try as she did), so maybe this will be good.
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He's in Melbourne with Katie right now.
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A return to traditional horror, working on the darkest inner fears, which is a welcome change from ironic post-"Scream" shit. Wes Craven has so much to answer for.
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..and Katie Holmes has to be in it to bring him down. God is dead to me.
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I hope.
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Pearce sells every film he's in - it wasn't as good as the 50's version, goes without saying - but it was a better remake than we usually get, and a lot of fun. Pearce is a very underrated actor, he's got an impressive list of good movies under his belt and seems to choose projects well, so I'm leaning more to the side of "this could be good" than the bad camp...and let's face it, the original was NOT a great movie so there's definately room for improvement here, as long as they avoid CGI for the creatures.
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She's fucking awful, so Pearce will have his work cut out trying to balance the film the black hole of suck pulling his performance down. Still, could be worse. Could be Maggie Gyllenhal.
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Hey, feel free to swipe your image from kindertrauma.com, I just spent a couple hours photoshoping the crap out of a blurry VHS screenshot just so you guys could use it! - Unk
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http://tinyurl.com/l4tglj
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A copy of this in VHS. Still in it's giant VHS box (back before they began putting them in sleeves). Still watch it on occasion. Funny movie. Still pretty creepy in parts.
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holmes is not
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. . . who was providing the overabundant CGI and which rapper will be cast.
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OK, not really. Hutton's character annoyed the hell out of me in DBAOTD. As a little kid, I couldn't believe how quickly he dismissed her bizarre but convincing claims of little monsters stalking her in their new dream home. I always wanted to see a final scene of Hutton and a large construction crew, taking down the entire house and actually investigating what the hell's in that fireplace-hole. Instead, we're left to assume that he just... moves out? Don't the authorities ever suspect him of foul play??? Sure, he's got Uncle Charlie to back up his crazy story, but I doubt that would be enough. Yes, I've obsessed over this movie since I was 8...
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...to anyone who says "this movie fucked me up as a kid." I've written about this film here before, but I saw this film as a child in the living room of my aunt's house, surrounded by family in the middle of a sunny day, and it absolutely freaked me out.
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Fuck that. DBAOTD is an absolute classic. Scary and original. This is going to suck balls.
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That at the end they are dragging her towards the cellar or basement or whatever and she takes a camera with the flash bulbs and starts taking the pictures as they drag here,..and they hate the light?? If this is the same movie,. as a child I had a hard time sleeping I remember. I dont believe Ive seen it since.
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not as scary as the zuni doll but the thought of them was enough to keep me from sleeping with my arm hanging down off the bed
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Saw every other thing mentioned that scared everyone as kids. Phimseto, you description of viewing this is EXACTLY how I first saw Salem's Lot. It warped me for a good long time.
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I have to see it!!!
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good luck finding it
It may have been released on VHS but I don't recall ever seeing it in a vid store
It's got to be 30 years since I saw it last
and it still creeps me out -
Say what you will about the quality of made-for-TV movies these days, but back in the '70s, ABC and CBS were putting out stuff like Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Trilogy of Terror, Crowhaven Farm, Killdozer, Satan's School for Girls, Gargoyles, and Duel... all of which had some great moments. Aside from Duel & Trilogy, try finding any of them on DVD these days... pity.
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Don't forget "Let's scare Jessica to death", which gets a ton of shit despite its brilliance.
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Jun 30, 2009 9:43:36 AM CDT
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK...JUST KATHY BATES
by christian_bale_trashed_my_lights
As our friend Corey would say - peace.
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That's the one. I remember seeing this as a kid also. The creepiest scene for me was just after she opens the hole where the homonculi are kept, the camera dollies in and we hear voices whispering, "Freeee! Sally set us freeeee!" Cut to commercial and I nearly shit my pants.Hey, while we're at it, remake another classic that haunts Children of The 70s: The Bermuda Depths. You know you want it. With the Vivaldi music too.
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were both Movies Of The Week for ABC. Those were good times.
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Dude, I just picked that up on a bootleg DVD version a year or two back at Comic Con! The image of Carl Weathers being dragged down to the deep by the giant turtle and the haunting theme song "Jenny" stayed with me for years and years. The quality of the bootleg sucks, and the most of the flick is pretty lame, but when they finally get out to sea to hunt the creature, it's tons of fun. Oh, and Burgess Meredith, too! How can you go wrong? Ah, good memories...being a 10 year old kid and watching this stuff on Creature Double Feature on Boston's Channel 56 on a Saturday afternoon.
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Yeah, seeing the movie now (on YouTube) shows that it wasn't the best written story around. But as a kid I thought it was great! Connie Seleca standing on the deck of the boat with glowing green eyes was fantastic.
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Is this the old Nickelodean TV show movie?
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Not ripping off an untouchable classic and casting the current A-list stars. Not watering/dumbing down a foreigh film for the U.S. audience. Not "reinvisioning" a franchise 20-years later so you can milk it some more. No. You take a really cool little idea and give it a nice big-time treatment. I remember this creepy made-for-TV from when I was a kid. Definitely a cool and original idea with an disturbing ending, at least for a 13-year-old (wow I can still remember it). The nice thing is that they don't need budget-busting effects, just servicible stuff that will put you into their world. There's no need for expensive A-list talent, and Guy Pearce would be perfect. Mostly it just needs a tight script, an atmospheric location and set, a visual art director, and a director that knows how to work with story pacing and actors. If they get the right combo together this will definitely be a nice evening at the movies.
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...were THE SHIT. So many awesome, original and frankly terrifying films. So many of them fucked me up as a kid -- Trilogy of Terror, The Night Stalker, the Jack Palance Dracula, DBAOTD, Gargoyles, Terror at 40,000 Feet, Killdozer and The Bermuda Depths.
One of the people responsible for a load of those movies is Dan Curtis. That man is a GOD. Where is the respect he deserves?
Oh and the dearth of DVD releases of these gems is somewhat made up for by all the TV and VHS rips easily found online.
Seek this shit out! -
saw this as a kid when it aired and it kept me from going into the cellar alone... especially since we also had a defunct coal shute and furnace with the creepy door where they eventually (spoiler?) drag poor Sally!
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My vote would be for "Gargoyles". I must have Watched the beta copy of that movie and DBAOTD a thousand times each when I was a kid. 70s monster movies rule. I live right by the cave where the Gargoyles lived in the movie!
DBAOTD is a fucking scary movie, the whole thing was on youtube a few months ago, hmmm. -
Jun 30, 2009 3:57:53 PM CDT
The reason I still cant dangle my feet over the edge of my bed
by stan grossman
(In a whispered voice) "They tripped him with a piece of cord". Movie was freaky. And to think my parents set my brothers and I up to watch this and keep us entertained while they went out to dinner one night. Leaving us alone to fend off these creepy little bastards. Much like the classic "Night of the scarecrow" its one of those movies you try and tell people about but they just look at you like you're insane. One of those guess you had to be there flicks.
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Down for him getting another solid role. Been a fan since LA Confidential.
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Just saying.
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still saying.
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...Is the man. L.A. Confidential, Ravenous, The Proposition, Memento,uh...Bedtime Stories? I can't wait to see him as "Skinny, Half-naked dying guy" in The Road.
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This movie completely fucked me up as a kid...one of the few movies to give me nightmares.
Oh the stories I could tell... -
I saw this when it premiered on network TV in 73. I was 8. I think it was actually on or near Halloween actually. You know when you're young and every shadow in your room at night is something sinister and every dark corner holds unimaginable terrors? Those homunculi were what I would see. A power outage while I was in the bathroom would send me screaming to my parents. Something about this movie really got to me, despite the simple creature effects. Hopefully Del Toro will keep the high level of suspense in this movie. It was the fleeting glimpses of the little bastards in the light of a flash bulb that made them so scary.
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