everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Saw this when it aired in 1973. I think 8 year old me had been watching the Patridge Family when this came on as the movie if the week. No one in my family ever remembered watching it and when I described the plot line to others years later no one seemed to remember the movie. My family moved into a new home about 3 months after it aired. There was a closet with built in cabinets I refused to go into them years because of the movie. Mom hid all my Christmas presents there because she knew I wouldn't open those drawers. So glad to learn I'm not the only 50 year old who still remembers being traumatized as a kid. I only saw it that one time. Just watched a clip of the "leg" scene in YouTube and now have no plans to ever watch the movie again.

Interesting film but let down by some very leaden and unimaginative production values and direction. It would have been better had they left the creatures more in the darkness, once you actually see them then they lose all credibility. Also they seem to be not that formidable, they retreat from light so why doesn't Kim Darby just dump a can of petrol down the chimney and fry them? Why doesn't she just buy herself a shotgun and blow them away? And in the immortal words of Eddie Murphy why the blazes doesn't she just get out of the house?Kim Darby is extremely good just as she was in True Grit but she's by far the best thing in it, the other actors are very weak. It's interesting to see it all in retrospect in terms of the feminist revolution, this is the very beginning of woman's lib (which is even referred to in passing)and the patronising attitude everyone exhibits towards housewife Sally is quite startling.The ending is probably the reason why everyone remembers this film, for a TV movie of the week to have an ending where the heroine actually 'joins' the bad guys must have been quite daring at the time. So what happens next? Does Sally's husband and her friends try to rescue her? Or do they just brick up the chimney and make sure no one ever opens it again? Has she actually become one of the creatures or is she their queen and do they feed off her soul (one of the creatures says they want Sally's 'spirit'). What about the photos she took as she was being dragged towards the chimney?Interesting but really doesn't live up to its' reputation.

Sally Farnham (Kim Darby) and her husband Alex Farnham (Jim Hutton) move to an old mansion that belonged to Sally's grandmother and they hire an interior designer and the carpenter Mr. Harris (William Demarest) to redecorate the manor. Sally opens a locked door in the house and finds a sealed fireplace and ash pit. She asks Mr. Harris to open the fireplace but the old man argues with her and refuses to follow the order. Sally uses Mr. Harris' wrench to remove the bolts of the ash pit cover. Sooner Sally finds that evil little creatures that fear the light have escaped from the underground through the ash pit and are threatening her. However, Alex and her friend Joan Kahn (Barbara Anderson) believe that Sally's imagination is affected by the words of Mr. Harris."Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" is a simple and effective horror film made for television released in Brazil only on VHS. The story of a young couple that moves to an old house and the wife Kim Darby, the unforgettable Miri of "Star Trek" and the girl Mattie Ross of "True Grit", releases demon-like creatures is original and developed in an adequate pace.In 2010, Guillermo del Toro remade this film with a lame screenplay that included silly sub-plots and spoiled the original story. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Criaturas da Noite" ("Creatures of the Night")

This 1973 flick made for television has so many followers that it became a classic in the horror genre. It was made in a time when horror wasn't that popular but being broadcast at a normal hour in the US some kids were really scared and as a grown up they still talked about this creeper.John Newland, the director was well known for making TV series but he made a few television flicks too like Crawlspace (1972) but let Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark being his most famous one. Due being a television production they brought in two popular names for the main leads. Kim Darby playing Sally came out of TV series to make this flick and went back to television and some other famous horrors like Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Meyers as Debra Strode. The other name, Jim Hutton also came from television series but also appeared in some classics like The Green Berets aside John Wayne. Sadly he died in 1979 at age 45 due liver cancer. They did a great job in this flick.But it was those scary little voices that made the movie. And of course the story line itself. It had a bit of fantasy over it and that attracted the little viewers but how many did watch under their bed years after watching this flick. The buggers itself doesn't look very frightening up to today's standards but it was the way it was filmed and edited that made it believable. Still, if you watch it nowadays it is outdated but it's a must see how they made a creepy flick just before the heydays of horror.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Story 4/5 Effects 3/5 Comedy 0/5