MovieChat Forums > Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) Discussion > smart little devils!

smart little devils!

posted 19 years ago by beatles1
4 replies | jump to latest

Hey people! How you all doing? Not to bad here just been chilling keeping busy. I thought I'd write a quick message on Don't be afraid of the dark beacuse it's one of my all time fav horror movies. How come they don't make them like that anymore? Other then the blair witch project which was real good everything is horrible these days. All teen slasher flicks where you know exactly what's going to happen next. I thought that jeepers creepers might be allright so I rented it. After the first half hr which was okay it went right into standard teen scare deal. You saw the monster pretty quick which I wish it would have remained unseen to the end. The really borrowed heavily from duel and texas chainsaw. What was the monster anyway a demon or gargoyle? Who knows. Anway back to dark I remember watching it back when I was a kid on son of sevengoolie on channel 48. He was cool played all these old horror and monster flicks and at commercials would interview actors and play games. Ahh those were the days tuning into blackula, son of blob-better then the first, race with the devil, old godzilla and king kong flicks! But yeah dark was so errie and creepy. i think it was the whisphers that the creatures made in the background gave you goose bumps! It just shows you can make a good horror flick without any gore and violent killings not to mention useless bad language. Hey some of the music from dark sounded awfully familiar to lets scare jessica to death. Maybe jess had some influence on dark. Both were horror classics. I'm glad they waited till near the end to finally see the monsters it kept the scare vibe going good. It was creppy when the monsters were playing with Sally at her party. They were pretty smart little creatures slipping the sleeping pills to Sall so she would get all tired when they would kidnap her. Smashing the lights so her friend would go out to check it then they locked her out. Poor Sall if she would have had a little more energy she probably could have got up while they were pulling her down kicked her legs crazy till they let go and then hauled ass Guess she was to sleepy.

Hey I had a few questions on some things about the movie so if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it. First off where did these creatures come from? Was the fireplace a gateway to hell or another dimension. Why didn't salls grandmother warn her about the creatures instead of just telling the handyman to instruct her to not open the fireplace. Was there some sort of understanding with the handyman and the creatures. He knew they were there and they attacked him when he went to the basement. Maybe he thought sall and her husband would never believe him. But when salls husanbd told him about all these weird things happening and sall being creeped out he should have told him the whole story. That's why I am thinking there was some sort of respect between the handyman and the creatues. Maybe they let him live if he would never tell anyone. But if salls grandma knew about them why didn't she try and kill them or just move away before her husband got kidnapped.

Next is what happened to Sall after she went through the fireplace. I mean did they kill her or turn her into a monster. I think that's her talking at the end with the other creatures she became one of them. I mean why did they want Sall in the frist place? Did they want her beacuse she set them free so they felt she should be one of us? I kind of thought they liked her in a perverse evil way like hey she freed us to do some mischief so lets make her a immortal devil. Or ir was a curse like who sets us free is zoomed. I know I think to much! I should just watch and enjoy the movie and not over question everything! I wonder what would happened if they would have tried to climb down the fire place and see if they could find sall. Maybe at the bottom was the gateway to hell or another world and only the creautres could go through. Who knows guess that's why we have imaginations. Have to leave somethings for yourself. All in all great horror movie right up there with jessica, rosemary's baby and first halloween and jaws. If anyone has some anwsers or replys to my message please write back and will respond when I can. Thanks for reading my message. Laters and don't open the firplace! Sall Sall we want your spirt-hey Sall was cute buy her a coffee! peace

[–] smerd_70 19 years ago

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark didn't borrow anything from Texas Chainsaw... since TCM came out in 1974 and Don't Be Afraid... aired in 1973.

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 18 years ago

I think the "little devils" would kill the handyman if he told. It's been years since I saw the movie, and although he (the handyman) didn't "tell" he gave Sally a warning that some things are best left alone. The little devils attacked the handyman with an ice pick and hammer, I think. But at least he got away.

Yes, Sally did become one of them. That was her voice for sure. Don't know why being turned into one of them would change your will, though. I think it've been more 'horrible' if they turned her into one and kept her prisoner, rather than joking and laughing with them.And I'm sure the void under the fireplace ashpit had interdimensional qualities and probably did lead to Hell or something similar

[–] clearbluepeace 18 years ago

Your post reminds me of the similarity between this film and some other stories.

When I was a kid, there was a book-sale at my school (you know, you could order books from the Scholastic Book Club, and sometimes those books could also be purchased at a bazaar). I always gravitated to the ghost/horror/spooky books. I picked up one anthology and read an entire story or two while standing at the tables. (Damn it why didn't I buy the book?! Oh, that's right, first grade, what money did I even have?!)

The story that stuck with me was about a kid who ventured into some dark, lonely haunted-type house, and he ended up encountering the souls of kids who had been snatched by some creature/spirit/shadowman who trapped them in the walls of the house. The kid tried to get away toward the end, but like in a nightmare, he found that his legs wouldn't move to run away, and he was grabbed by the evil guy and brought back to the house.

Years later, I became aware of the Genesis song (Phil Collins) called "Home By the Sea," which seemed eerily similar. The song tells the story of a burglar who creeps into a house on a cliff by the sea, and he is met by dark spirits of other burglars who had tried to steal from the house before as well, but ended up imprisoned in it:

Creepin' up the blind side, shinnin' up the wall
stealin' through the dark of night
Climbin' through a window, steppin' to the floor
checkin' to the left and the right
Pickin' up the pieces, puttin' them away -- something doesn't feel quite right!

Help me someone, let me out of here
Then out of the dark was suddenly heard, "Welcome to the home by the sea!"

Comin' out the woodwork, through the open door
pushin' from above and below
Shadows with no substance, in the shape of men; round and round and sideways they go
Adrift without direction, eyes that hold despair,
then as one they sigh and they moan,
"Help us someone, let us out of here! Been living here, so long undisturbed,
Welcome to the Home by the Sea..."

there's more. It's a good song on "Genesis: Genesis" so you should check it out.

-Jeffrey

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 18 years ago

W O W !!! THey sure don't make kids books like that anymore. Your memory of it may be better than the book really was. Thanks for sharing it. I used to fear a boogieman type character when I was a child, probably just the product of a childhood nightmare, who did something very similar. Occasionally he'd torture his victims who were usually trapped embedded/encrusted/fused together in the bleeding walls. Occasionally, he would take them out and torture them, or send them out to do his bidding. I can still hear those things whispering like garbage rustling in the wind, scratchy whispers, coming to claim another victim. These nightmares plagued me from the time I was seven until I was almost twelve. It was still a scary thought, but I no longer felt it was a threat. Just something I thought about.