Character Spotlight- Sally Hurst & Sally Farnham- Kim Darby & Bailee Madison- Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (1973 & 2011)

  

**This post contains spoilers**

Trying something new for my Character Spotlight series with a double-dose. Today, it's all about Kim Darby's Sally Farnham (the first pic) from the original Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (1973), and Bailee Madison's Sally Hurst from the 2011 remake. They share the same first name, but Sally Farnham and Sally Hurst travel two different paths during their battles with the little creatures. Let's get to it!

I'll start with Kim Darby's Sally Farnham. Sally inherited an old house from her deceased grandmother. Sally, and her husband Alex (Jim Hutton) are trying to renovate the spooky old house with some help from Mr. Harris (William Demarest), but Sally ignores Harris' stern warning, when she removes a bolted cover on the old fireplace in the study. Sally unleashes a pack of miniature creatures, who live in the fireplace, and Sally is a target for the creature's sinister plans. 

Darby's Sally is the quiet stay-at-home wife, and Alex is the domineering and strict husband, but he refuses to believe Sally's stories of little creatures running around the house. Darby is the stand out star with a show stealing performance in the original. Darby slowly unravels, as the creatures wreak havoc in the house, and Darby's panicky and frightened outbursts ("ALEX!!!!!!!!!!PLEASE!!!!") are spot on. And you can feel Sally's frustration with the creatures towards the end during a risky tug-of-war contest.

Bailee Madison's Sally is not a housewife. She's a young and lonely girl, and she's forced into an unfavorable situation. Sally Hurst starts a new life with her father, Alex (Guy Pearce), and his new girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes). Oh, and another pack of miniature creatures are hiding/living in the fireplace at Sally's new home. At first, Bailee Madison's Sally is this disrespectful brat, but as the story develops, you realize she's a scared little kid, who's struggling to adjust to her new life and her new surroundings (the creatures don't help). 

So who's the better Sally? Bailee Madison. Why? Because the writers (Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins) added more layers to Sally's character for the 2011 film, and Madison nailed every layer. The disruptive brat, the lonely outcast, the fragile, homesick child, who’s begging for someone to understand her, and Sally uses her amateur drawings (including drawings of the creatures) to express herself. You name it, and Madison conquerors every obstacle in her way for Sally 2011. Labeling Sally 2011 as an obstacle with more hurdles is not a stretch at all, and Madison tackled the challenge with ease.

I don't have any big problems with the switcheroo changes for the remake. Sally is a child, Alex is divorced with a new girlfriend girlfriend, and there's a more extensive and thorough backstory for Jack Thompson's Mr. Harris and his family's history with the house, but you won't see any major changes for the Mr. Harris character (i.e. he's still the paranoid codger, who tries to warn everyone about the creatures).

BUT  you'll notice a big gap for differences during the finales. The changes? Sally Farnham suffers, but Sally Hurst escapes. In the original, Alex ignored Sally's pleas for help. Mr. Harris' story convinced Alex towards the end, but Alex ran out of time, because the creatures captured Sally, and Sally was forced into an imprisonment in the fireplace as a creature.

In the remake, Kim pushed Alex to leave the house, because Kim believed Sally's stories. After Sally's breakdown at a party, Alex FINALLY listens to Sally and Kim, and they come to a decision to leave the house together. But Kim, Sally, and Alex run into a too little, too late problem. The creatures launch a systematic attack to eliminate Alex and Kim, and they capture Sally with some help from a rope. Kim fights the creatures to save Sally from a life in the fireplace, but Kim suffered for her sacrifice. With a strong group effort, the creatures pull Kim into the fireplace (in one of the most cringeworthy moments you'll ever see in any type of film) as their prisoner, but Sally and Alex escaped together.

Fans of Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark 1973 should experience an eerie feeling of deja vu during the finales. Remember, as one of the creatures (presumably, because they don't show any images for Sally in the fireplace) in the original, Sally reassured her new family with a simple message for more victims, and another poor, clueless soul opening the fireplace. They have "all the time in the world" to wait for another victim. In the remake, Kim repeats Sally Farnham's warning with the creatures.

So if you're placing a bet on the first one to escape, who would you choose? Sally Farnham or Kim? I'll put my money on Sally Farnham. Why? Think about it like this, Alex, Joan ( Barbara Anderson), and Mr. Harris never had the chance to actually see the creatures, and they didn't witness the chaos during Sally's disappearance, so they'll remember a freak freak accident WITHOUT any fears for the unknown in a fight against the creatures. And let's be honest, I'm not the only one, who's curious about a "first look" for creature Sally or creature Kim, right?

If you're interested, you can follow this link to read my spoiler review for Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (1973)-

http://mitchmacready.blogspot.com/2013/09/dont-be-afraid-of-dark-1973_3.html

And you can follow this link for my Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2011) spoiler review-

http://mitchmacready.blogspot.com/2013/09/dont-be-afraid-of-dark-2011.html

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2011)

**This review contains spoilers**

Early in the 19th century, Lord Emerson Blackwood (Garry McDonald) sets a trap for his maid one night. Blackwood, a reclusive man and painter, waits in the basement of his mansion in Providence County, Rhode Island, until the maid falls down the staircase, after stumbling over Blackwood’s trip wire. Blackwood uses a hammer and chisel to murder the maid by smashing out her teeth. With hopes of seeing his son again, Blackwood offers the maid’s teeth and some of his own teeth to small creatures, who live within the fireplace of Blackwood’s basement. But the creatures refuse to return Blackwood’s kidnapped son. Instead, the creatures pull Blackwood into the fireplace to take him as another prisoner.

Years later, Alex Hurst (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes) await the arrival of Alex’s young daughter, Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison) at the airport. With her parents divorced, Sally’s mother believes a change would help Sally, so Sally is sent to live with her father in Providence County. Sally, bitter and furious about having to move away from her mother, refuses to accept Kim as the new mother figure in her life. As Sally tries to adjust to her new life, Alex is more concerned with renovations on the new home: Lord Blackwood’s old mansion. Alex will do anything he can to impress Architectural Digest magazine, and a wealthy businessman named Mr. Jacoby (Alan Dale), but in the process, he ignores his daughter.

Desperate and lonely, Sally eventually finds the sealed basement, where Blackwood vanished. Here, she listens to the voices of the creatures, who trick her into becoming friends with them. Mr. Harris (Jack Thompson), an elderly worker, who’s helping with the repairs, has history with Blackwood Manor dating back to his grandfather, who also worked as a repairman on the mansion. Harris, knowing the dark history of the mansion, pleads with Alex to leave the basement alone, but Alex refuses, and breaks open the barricades blocking the entrance to the basement.

The creatures, still trapped in the sealed fireplace, use Sally’s desperation for companionship against her, and they convince Sally to open the fireplace and release them. The creatures stalk and torment Sally throughout the house, but Alex, believing his daughter is mentally ill, calls a psychiatrist to the house to evaluate Sally. The creatures leave a rare silver coin underneath Sally’s pillow, but in exchange for the coin, the creatures want Sally and her teeth. Kim believes in Sally’s fears, and after a wounded Mr. Harris (Harris was attacked by the creatures after trying to reseal the fireplace) instructs Kim to visit the local library for more information on Blackwood and the creatures, Kim urges Alex to leave the mansion.  Discovering their only true weakness, Sally uses light to fight the creatures, and Sally is forced to rely on light and  Kim to save her from an eternity of imprisonment in the dark depths of the fireplace.

Well, the most obvious change in the remake is Sally. She’s not a fully grown woman and a housewife. Sally is a small child, who’s lonely and struggling to adjust to her new life. For my money, Bailee Madison’s Sally is better than Kim Darby’s Sally. Sally comes off as this disrespectful brat at first, but Madison does a better job of showing the emotional heartache and desperation, as her pleas about the real existence of monsters are ignored. Adding the dynamic of the homesick and lonely child to the Sally character helps, but Madison still deserves all the credit for being able to pull it off. A few more layers are added to the Sally character, and Madison nailed each one. The disruptive brat, the lonely outcast, the fragile child, who’s begging for someone to understand her, and Sally uses her amateur drawings (including drawings of the creatures) to express herself. Madison was given a tougher challenge with 2011 Sally. She conquered that challenge, and that’s the main reason why she gets my pick for being better than Darby.

Jim Hutton’s Alex was a strict and domineering husband, but Guy Pearce’s Alex is more of a pompous and pretentious douchebag. Alan Dale’s Mr. Harris resembles Demarest’s Mr. Harris from the original (i.e. the paranoid old man, who tries to warn everyone of the dangers within the fireplace), and I don’t have any real complaints about Katie Holmes as a new addition. Remember, there’s no divorce, and Alex doesn’t have a girlfriend in the original. Holmes is harmless as Kim. The character is somewhat of a cliché, because Kim is the “new woman” in Sally’s life, and she refuses to accept her. Kim is torn between trying to please Sally, while helping Alex as the new authority figure/parent in Sally’s life. But Holmes deserves credit for a strong effort.

Of course, this film was released in 2011, so you have to expect CGI creatures. Others will complain, but I actually enjoy the CGI upgrades for the creatures. They have a more monstrous and intimidating look. Plus, I like the idea of giving the creatures a more thorough backstory. There’s a diabolical mystique surrounding the creatures, as ancient and sinister tooth fairies, who won’t take no for an answer.

You have to expect changes in any remake, but I give Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark 2011 credit for adding some new changes and paying homage to the original. A few examples of the winks to the original include the creatures using a trip wire to catch Sally, but instead, someone else (Kim) gets caught in the trap. That’s reminiscent of the creatures trying the same thing with Sally in the original, but they caught Mr. Perez instead. And the final moments of the remake resemble the ‘73 original (“we have all the time in the world”), with the exception of Sally and Alex returning to the mansion.

Guillermo del Toro (Del Toro loved the original as a kid) is a producer for this film, and he helped with the screenplay. You can see del Toro’s touch throughout this film, because the remake is full of visual splendor, with Sally’s carousel night light being a noticeable standout. Although, the landscape in the remake lacks a lot of the eerie spookiness in the original.

Like the original, the remake takes the slow burn approach towards the build to the big finale. Problem is, if you’ve seen the original, you won’t be able to feel the suspense and shock factor of the creatures revealing their big plan for Sally (“WE WANT YOU!”). So when Kim goes to the library to do some research on Blackwood and the mansion, and she finds out the big secret behind what the creatures want, there‘s a good chance you‘ll (for people who saw the original) have a facepalm type of reaction, because you already know what’s coming before Kim goes to the library. Then again, the remake’s foreshadowing for the creature’s plans are very obvious, so feeling the void of the intended shock factor probably won‘t matter either way.

Overall, I enjoy Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark as a modernized and polished remake of the ‘73 original. As I said before, you have to expect changes in a remake, and Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark managed to mix in some new material, while paying homage to the original in an attempt  to please fans (although  some will bitch no matter what). Oh, and the ending with Kim being yanked into the fireplace is one of the most cringeworthy moments you’ll see in any horror film. The way her legs and ankles snap in half, when the creatures slam her against the fireplace door…ouch.

Rating: 7/10

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Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (1973)

Yeah, I know I said this would be up last night, but I fell asleep, and by the time I woke up it was time to go to work. Fatigue gets the best of us more often than not. lol.

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**This review contains spoilers**

Preparing to start a new chapter in their lives, Alex (Jim Hutton) and Sally (Kim Darby) Farnham move into a house previously owned by Sally’s deceased grandparents. Sally’s grandmother left the house to Sally in her will, and an elderly Mr. Harris (William Demarest), the same handyman, who worked on and repaired the house, when Sally’s grandparents were alive, agrees to work on some renovations and repairs for Alex and Sally as a sign of respect for Sally’s grandmother.

Alex spends most of his time working and on business trips, leaving Sally in the house by herself. Out of curiosity, Sally decides to open a fireplace in the study sealed up years ago by Mr. Harris at the request of Sally’s grandmother, ignoring warnings from Mr. Harris. Sally unknowingly unleashes a group of miniature creatures from the fireplace. But after numerous creature sightings and pleas for help, Alex refuses to believe Sally. Instead, Alex suggests Sally see a psychiatrist for help. The creatures plan to abduct Sally to take her spirit, because, whoever sets the creatures free must become one of them, and return to the fireplace. And a few hours before the planned abduction, the creatures accidentally kill the interior decorator, Mr. Perez (Pedro Armendariz, Jr.) by tripping him down a flight of stairs with a small rope that was meant for Sally.

Sally is able to convince her best friend, Joan (Barbara Anderson), and Alex changes his mind after Mr. Harris explains the history of the house, the fireplace, and the mysterious disappearance of Sally’s grandfather. The creature’s main weakness is light, but Sally will have to rely on a camera, candles, and one flashlight after the creatures cut the power to the house during the night. 

I won’t sit here and pretend to be a Kim Darby expert, because I’m not. In fact, I’ve only seen her in this film and the original True Grit. But Darby easily steals the show as Sally. You’ll see Darby slowly unravel into a paranoid and frightened mess before it’s all over. Two scenes that stick out are the scene at the dinner table, where one of the creatures pulls Sally’s table cloth from her lap, and Darby screams “ALEX!!! ALEX!!! PLEASE!!!” The other is after the creatures kill Perez, and Sally is tugging on the rope with the creatures, and she says “Who are you??? What do you want???” This was towards the end of the film, and you could really feel Darby’s frustration, because Sally was so sick and tired of being tormented and taunted by the creatures.

Jim Hutton is the domineering and stern man of the house/husband, but he shows some vulnerability at the end, as Alex screams for Sally (more on that later). Demarest is believable as the stubborn, paranoid, and fussy old man, who won’t back down in an argument. And speaking of arguments, the funniest parts of Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark come from an argument between Alex and Mr. Harris, because Harris believes in the supernatural, and of course, Alex thinks it’s all ridiculous nonsense. And Barbara Anderson is harmless as Joan.

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark takes the slow burn approach. The reveals are carefully spaced out and hints are dropped one by one, until the big finale. The slow burn technique might bore some, but Darby is the one, who pulls everything together. After a while, you can actually see the creatures, but you’re so caught up in Sally’s hysteria, because at certain points in the film, Sally is so freaked out by what’s happening, she tries to convince herself the creatures aren’t real.

The series of events leading up to the ending and the ending itself are done so well. Alex rushes to Harris’ place to learn more about the history of the house. Meanwhile, Joan is trying to protect Sally, and the creatures cut off the power outside. The events of Joan struggling to turn the power back on and get back inside the house after the creatures lock her out, the creatures finally capturing Sally, and Alex and Mr. Harris rushing back to the house are spliced together. The first time I watched this movie years ago, I was on the edge of my seat, because it was almost impossible to predict what would happen next. Will Joan get back into the house, and save Sally in time? Will Alex and Mr. Harris arrive in time to help stop the creatures? Or is Sally doomed with no one to help her?

It’s a fantastic suspenseful finale that’s executed to perfection, and Sally’s horrifying screams, as Alex breaks into the house provide the perfect cliffhanger, because Alex, Joan, and Mr. Harris were only seconds away from saving Sally’s life. Hutton does a wonderful job of selling Alex’s heartbreak with a horrified look on his face, as Alex looks into the fireplace, searching for Sally after dropping the flashlight, because Sally would still be alive and safe, if Alex just listened to her in the first place. Speaking of this finale, am I the only one, who notices the sudden changes from night to day? It’s supposed to be nighttime, and when Joan runs outside, you can clearly see it’s dark outside. BUT there’s one shot, where Joan is trying to turn the power back on and get back in the house, and you can clearly see daylight outside. Weird.

The creatures are appropriately freakish. They look like little evil goblins, and their hoarse voices are so creepy, as they stalk Sally, “We want you, Sally!” “It’s your spirit we need!” Plus, director John Newland does a wonderful job of creating some genuinely spooky and chilling atmospherics. You won’t see any real jump scares in Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark, but Newland provides enough haunting tension to make up for any missed “jump out of your seat” moments.

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark was a made-for-TV movie that premiered on ABC back in 1973 on October 10th, and you can clearly see the parts of the film that lead into commercial breaks here. But of course, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark gained a cult following from the horror fan base over the years. The film was released on VHS in the 80‘s, on DVD in 2009, went out of print, and then they released it again on DVD in 2011 to help promote the remake.

A lot of horror aficionados like to praise this film as a forgotten classic. A gem? Yeah, I could live with that type of praise. But a classic? I think that’s going a bit far. Take away the commercial break pauses, and you wouldn’t be able to tell Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark is a TV movie….but you can see the commercial break pauses. Look, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark is better than your average TV movie from any genre. I won’t deny that. But hearing some other people praise this film, you would think Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark is worthy of ten Academy Awards and a spot in the National Film Registry. Come on now. It’s not that good.

But I’ll say this, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark features one of my favorite openings ever. The music, the black cat, the voices of the creatures, and the rustling of the leaves in the wind. Everything has the right amount of spook. And before you actually see the creatures, you’re wondering where the voices are coming from, and who are they waiting for? Take a look!

                               


Rating: 7/10

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