Guillermo Del Toro is a visual genius and an amazing storyteller. Each of his movies that he directed or produced, he leaves his signature mark through character design or story, and it shows. Pan's Labyrinth, I feel, embodies all aspect of Guillermo. It is a work of art and it is distinctively his own. If you compare the monsters from this movie to another film of his, Hell Boy, you can see the designs of the creatures sharing stark similarities.
Guillermo has been readying his new US horror movie, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. From production pictures that I have seen so far, it follows in the same footstep as Pan's Labyrinth. Katie Holmes is casted as the girlfriend of Alex (played by Guy Pearce). Bailee Madison plays as Sally, Alex's young daughter, who arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father and his girlfriend in his 19th century Mansion that he is restoring. As she explores the mansion, she comes across a hidden basement that hasn't been opened for nearly a century. Opening the basement, Sally unleashes evil creatures that dwelled inside. Now it is up to Sally to try to convince her dad that their house now is host to these dark creatures.
I'm a huge fan of Haunted House horror movies and this movie seems to be that. After seeing the trailer for this movie, I instantly thought Pan's Labyrinth and I can't be more excited. For starters, we follow the story of a young girl and then the creatures resembles Guilermo's past creature design. It's a dark fantasy mixed with horror and mystery.
I believe that horror movies shouldn't just be cheap scares, but it should be able to leave a long lasting feeling of being afraid. There should be horror movies that are considered art house films (like A Tale of Two Sisters) or even be critically acclaimed. Although this movie won't be either, it should still fill the empty void of fantasy horror.
Here's a trailer of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark:
And new Images from the Movie:
