In the horror remake Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – opening this Friday – a troubled young girl (Bailee Madison) is sent to live with her neglectful father (Guy Pierce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in a decrepit Gothic mansion whose basement, she soon discovers, is host to some very old, very small, very nasty tenants. Directed by Troy Nixey and produced by Guillermo del Toro, the film is a horror throwback with modern accents, blending old-school atmospherics with intricately rendered CGI to create a mood of persistent and mounting menace.
We recently caught up with the jolly, self-effacing del Toro, who, joined by Holmes, spoke about Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s TV-movie roots, its questionable R rating, and his desire to see Ron Perlman wear a dress: