Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

REVIEW

Today, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark has a fearsome reputation as the scariest made-for-TV movie of all time. Which is pushing it a bit (it's not a patch on Screen One: GhostWatch (1992)) but it's still a very effective chiller that doesn't quite live up to its hype but which is still rather fascinating.

At heart it's an old-fashioned haunted house movie where a nervey, slightly neurotic housewife is left alone to fend off a trio of strange creatures who have been bricked up in a fireplace and have now been freed and have sinister plans for her.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark suffers somewhat because the whole thing seems terribly familiar - it's was a stale plot even then and there are too few new wrinkles to make the story particularly interesting. But what it does have, in spades, is atmosphere and some unusual monsters. They are a little over-used perhaps - they would have been eerier still if we'd seen less of them - but they're still an unnerving trio of nasties and easily the creepiest things ever seen on American television up to that date. And their real strength was the brave decision by writers Nigel McKeand to never really explain what they are - they're just there, they're not very nice and once they've finished with Sally Farnham, they might come looking for you.

McKeand also opted for a powerful but understated downbeat ending and it's in no small part due to this that the film has lived on so long and so fondly in the memory of those who first saw it as impressionable children back in the 1970s. The film offers no real hope - the strange little men are still out there and still up to no good. No-one comes to the rescue at the fade out, there are no comforting explanations and probably not much chance for any horror-loving eight year old to get any sleep as a consequence.

All these years on some of the film's pleasures have been tarnished slightly by over-familiarity with its basic concepts but in the right mood, it still raises a few happy shudders. The cast are merely adequate but do well by a clever and well-written script but the film gains its strengths from the quality of John Newland's direction. Newland, a familiar face from 50s and 60s television, had turned to directing early in his career and had already made a couple of less distinguished horror-thrillers (The Deadly Hunt (197) and Crawlspace (1972)) as well as episodes of Star Trek (1966 - 1969) (The Errand (1967)), Night Gallery (1970 - 1973) (There Aren't Any More McBanes (1972)) and three for The Sixth Sense (1972). He was also responsible for the fondly remembered anthology show One Step Beyond (1959 - 1961) but none of these achievements were as effectively atmospheric as Don't Look In the Dark.

It's not as good as its slightly over-inflated reputation would have us believe but one suspects that the optimum age for seeing it was 8 or 9, back in the 1970s, when you hadn't been exposed to too many similar efforts. Seeing it for the first time, as I did, as a rather more cynical adult with far too many haunted house tales, stories of lonely housewives being driven made and monster movies under my belt, the effect was less impressive. Yet for all that, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark remains a spooky, beautifully crafted horror film that certainly deserves to be though of fondly and regarded highly - just not, perhaps, as highly as it usually is.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008