Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

The movie first starts off at Blackwood Manor during a period when candles were used to provide light in a home. We hear the ringing of a bell and that triggers a maid to be dispatched, she is doing so cleaning duties in the home. Once she hears the bell she realize that she is needed and she goes to see what the owner of the house needs. We see the maid grabbing a candle which provides her with the light that she needs to make her way through the house being that it is dark through out the house. She starts to make her way when she hears the owner of the house a man calling for her. As she is looking down the stairwell and beginning to make her way down, we then see Lord Blackwood continue to look back at an old fireplace. The maid makes her way to the middle of the stair case and then we see her fall due in part to a tripwire that has been set in place. We can clearly see that Lord Blackwood is in a state and he does not want to harm this woman, but he stands over her and he is following what the voices (we hear) are more or less telling him to do. He takes a tool and he uses that tool to remove the teeth from his maids mouth, as Lord Blackwood starts to remove her teeth we see that a majority of his teeth have been moved from his mouth as well. Once he does this he gives them to the creatures and he begs these creatures to give him back his son. However, the creatures are not interested in the teeth and also not interested in keeping whatever arrangement they made with Lord Blackwood, then we see Lord Blackwood being  attacked by the same creatures he beg to give back his some.

We then cue to the president day and we meet Sally (played by the beautifully Bailee Madison) she has been sent to live with her dad Alex (Guy Pearce) for a while by her mother and she is not happy about this change. Sally meets her dad's new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) who she gives a hard time due to the fact that she is not happy with the new change in her live and it doesn't help that her mother has been telling her things that we are sure her mother shouldn't. The family arrives at Blackwood Manor and the home is not like any home, Alex with the assistance of Kim are doing a restoration on the home and then they plan to sell the home. While all this is going on Sally is trying the best way she knows how to accept the decision that her parents have made, she is still not giving Kim any leeway whatsoever. Sally roams the house and she starts to hear voices and these voices say that they want her to play with them and that they want to be her friend.

As the story continues to develop we see that this is not the case, we see the grounds keeper Harris (Jack Thompson) tell Alex and Kim that the house is no place for a child and that they so need to get Sally out of that house. Harris gets attacked by the creatures as he tries to warm and also seal up the creatures after Sally unknowing releases the due to her being curious about who and what they things are. Things start to happen to Sally and she starts to realize that these little creatures are not her friends in fact that want to hurt and do worst to her. Alex doesn't believe his daughter even though we can see that he truly does love his daughter, Kim has grown fond of Sally and after she visits Harris and starts her own research she knows that the best thing for Sally is to removed her from the house. Alex soon realizes that Sally needs to be removed from the home and he and Kim decide to pack a few things and get Sally out of the home. This all leads to a fateful confrontation between Sally, Kim, Alex and the creatures within the home who are hell bent on keeping getting Sally no matter what. Kim uses all the strength that she has to fight to save Sally and Alex also fights to get to his family due in part to the screams of Sally and the screams of Kim that he hears.

I recommend this film it isn't your usual horror film, it has twist and turns and we see the heroine being a strong little girl that continues to fight and remain strong no matter what her father or anyone else believes. Troy did an excellent job with the direction of this film and Guillermo (and Matthew) style is so evident you can tell that this is so a film for grown ups.

Miramax
Director: Troy Nixey
Writers: Guillermo del Toro (screen play) and Matthews Robbins (screen play)
Stars: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, and Bailee Madison
Running time: 99 minutes

HANNA

Hanna (played wonderfully by Saoirse) is a young woman, correction a teenage girl who has been raised and trained by her father (played wonderfully by Eric Bana) on how to be able to defend herself, as a smart soldier. The father and daughter team live in a remote area in the woods of Finland cut off by civilization and survive on the natural resources of their surroundings. Hanna has lived an unlikely life not like other regular teenagers in her age group, her up bringing can be as mention above is that of a trained assassin. One with perfect ability to handle themselves in hard terrain and still keep her sharp wits about her. Hanna is then sent into the world by her father on a mission, but her father never prepares her for the world outside the one he has raised her in. Hanna has the ability to move across Europe stealthily and she also eludes the agents that are after her. However; she does get distracted by tagging along with a family and seeing how the other side lives, a part that her father never showed her. As Hanna is getting close to nearing her target, she is faced with some revelations about her existence and some secrets that her father kept from her. This all leads to a confrontation with her father which thus leads her to the ultimate show down with her target (played cunningly by Cate Blachett). Who is an intelligence operative that is also harbouring secrets of own that can destroy her as well.  I recommend this movie as a must to seen, and a must own... I was going into this movie with some expectations and I must say that I was greatly surprised and the movie kept me on the edge of my seat. This was and is an excellent thriller Wright did a great job in the direction he took and went, even the fight sequences were precise and believable, the cast was on point and kept the audience (myself included) wanting more.

Focus Features
Director: Jon Wright
Writers: Seth Lochhead and David Farr (screen play)
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett
Running time: 111 minutes