Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Guillermo del Toro is great and I'll give a watch to almost anything with his name on it.  Also <3 Katie Holmes, obviously.  I admit I was worried about this when I started - it's a 5.6 on IMDB but when I booted it up on Amazon they had it at 4.5/5 stars.  Amazon tends to have a self-selection problem with its ratings but this kind of disparity always gives me pause. 

I'm going to cut to chase on this review.  I had a lot of fun watching this.  I'm imagining someone going up to del Toro after he had a couple beers and asking him if he wants to do a haunted house flick, and he's like "Sure, sounds fun."  The high level plot has been done a thousand times, and the dialog is hilariously blunt, including likes from dad like "If we get the cover of architectural digest we went need to take out another bank loan!" I thought the child actress did really well, and I appreciated a couple of the scenes with the del Toro Touch™️ particularly the first time they visit the garden behind the house - it has his signature magical fantasy vibe and I'm here for it. 

The movie rapidly started hitting my "haunted house trope punchlist" so let's review: 

• "Just live here until we fix up the house and sell it" ✅
  


• Bash down a wall ✅


• "Where are those old house keys?"✅


• Shaving scene in old bathroom ✅


• Library research to prove the house really IS haunted ✅


• Power out during a storm ✅

Does this make for a groundbreaking foray into the genre? No.  Is it fun to see del Toro's take on the classic?  Sure.  Is the movie still a C? Absolutely. Especially when you consider the entire plot is a ridiculous tooth fairy origin story and there is waaaaay too much CGI .  I thought it was a lot of fun to see for the first time and although I probably won't watch it again, it really hit the spot for me after a very stacked and stressful work week.  Don't Be Afraid of the Dark officially gets my 👻🎥 Scary Movie Thursday seal of approval.