There are times in a horror fans youth that a certain film will leave an impression that will be carried forward for ever more. In my case one such film is "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". A cheaply made for TV picture starring Kim Darby, Jim Hutton and William Demarest. The plot on the surface is standard. Alex and Sally Farnham inherit a big old mansion from their deceased grandmother, it has a basement den room with a bricked up fireplace. Sally wants to unblock the fireplace but is advised by the family handyman that it should be left as it is. Naturally Sally goes ahead and has the fire opened up, and pretty soon she starts to hear voices and see what she thinks is little men in her midst...
"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" terrified me as a child because it played on one of my basic fears, a fear that is shared by many an impressionable child. That of something being under the bed at night time, or in the cupboard, and yes, in the walls behind the fireplace. Of course now as an adult revisiting the film it has lost the power to truly terrify me. But not once since that time as a child have I not cast a nervous smile in the direction of all the open fireplaces I've come across over the years. This is something I think one should always remember when revisiting such films from your youth, the impact back then is what's important. Now to me the film is a nostalgic trip that still retains the power to prick up those goose-bumps, and with each goose bump comes back memories of believing there was such a thing as little troll like demons out to get us.
It's a cracking little chiller is this, the cast give it their all (particularly Darby) and while the effects and production are evidently low, it still carries a charm that 70s TV movies seem to carry for those that blossomed during it. Very much a cult film over the years, horror fan pressure has led to it finally getting a DVD release in August 2009. All those fans are just like me, they remembered the night that "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" actually meant that we "would" be afraid of the dark. First time viewers to it now are unlikely to get much, if anything, from it. But don't mock or be scornful towards us, for we was there, and we carried with us that first chill for ever more. 8/10
