So, my best friend Matt and I were texting back and forth the
other night discussing the films we love – which is something we do on a regular
basis. We were talking about the creature films of the 80’s and reminiscing
about titles like Critters, Munchies and the beloved Ghoulies. As we talked about them he
mentioned to me how fond he was of those films and I happened to mention to him
how much I loved Don’t Be Afraid of the
Dark. And just to be on the safe side, I made it a point to make it clear
that I was talking about the 1973 film that was released on ABC. He completely
blew me away when the text that followed read: There’s an original?
I immediately began to tell him the story of how I came to
see the film for the first time when I was about 10 years old. Just after the
traumatic experience I had with the original Friday the 13th, I stayed away from even the notion of
sitting in front of a horror film for a while and actually had the plans of
never doing it again. Just with what happened, it scarred me and I have my
father to blame for that. As a small kid in rural California, my mother had purchased
a small portable black and white television set to have around the house. She
would use it in the kitchen mostly but at times we kids were allowed to use it
in case there was something we wanted to watch when my father was occupying the
color set in the living room. One night, I took the small set to my room as I
wanted to watch something that was on prime time that evening (I’m thinking
something along the lines of The Dukes of
Hazzard, which I was really into at the time) and the set stayed with me in
my bedroom as I went to bed. I ended up waking up later on that night to use
the bathroom and as everyone was asleep, I decided to turn the television set
on and see what was on, just remembering to keep the volume down so I wouldn’t
get into trouble.
When I turned to KFSN-TV Channel 30, I was immediately
creeped out by the stations logo ID at the top of the hour and the announcer’s
spooky deep voice asking It’s 11o’clock.
Do you know where your children are? (Something that still runs chills down
my spine to date). Then, to my own horror – no pun intended – the Late Late
Creature Feature program comes on. Now, this was something I’d never done. It
was something completely new. And was I terrified? You bet it was. But
something kept me glued to the set as the opening of the film commenced. That
was something I never forgot. The soft chilling whispers over a shot of a large
house at night with the moon hovering over it made my heart race as I had no
idea what I was getting myself into. But there I was, stuck to it and ready for
what was coming.
If you haven’t seen this film (in its original form), you
must find it someway, somehow and sit in front of it at least once. As Matt and
I were talking about it, I dug up the DVD I own and popped it into my laptop.
Honestly, I haven’t seen it in a matter of years so it was nice to be able to
revisit it. Every die-hard horror fan my age knows the premise of the film:
Sally Farnham and her husband Alex inherit her recently deceased grandmother’s
home. As the couple move in, Sally finds a bricked up fireplace in the basement
that she wants to use as her study. As she becomes curious about having the
fireplace re-opened, she is given a warning by the caretaker, Mr. Harris, to
leave the fireplace the way it is as that’s how Sally’s grandfather wanted it.
Of course, she doesn’t heed his words and she manages to opens the side door
where ashes could be removed and there, the film begins. I don’t want to give
much of the plot away, as I sometimes do in these posts, because every horror
fan should see this at least once. There is an atmosphere presented in the film
right from the beginning that grips you and takes you into Sally’s mind, as
slowly, but surely she begins to lose it. Granted, it isn’t presented on the
level of let’s say, Repulsion, but
once Sally herself (brilliantly played by Kim Darby, whom all of us 80’s know
as Mrs. Myer from Better Off Dead)
begins to hear voices calling her name, she is convinced that not only is
something in the house with her, but it’s after her.
There are some very effective scenes in the film that even
know as an adult will cause a chill to run down your spine. And for having been
a made-for-television movie, there are hordes of horror fans like myself who hold
it in high regard. For one, it plays well on the psychological level as we
slowly see Sally herself descend into madness as not only is she hearing voices
calling her name, but she sees things that nobody else does. She sees little
people. Little people who invade her daily space. Little people who are out to
make her one of them. Her husband (the very handsome Jim Hutton) begins to lose
patience with her, as he feels everything she sees is a figment of her
overactive imagination. Is it the house itself causing her to become
delusional? Or is just Sally losing her grip with reality? Her friend Joan (Barbara
Anderson) comes into the picture and slowly begins to realize that there is
really something wrong with Sally and comes to stay with her while Alex is away
in San Francisco on a business trip. It is here where the film becomes
positively frightening. The goblins are determined to get Sally. They have
managed to lure Joan outside as they take poor Sally, who’s been giving
sleeping pills by her doctor, is now unable to defend herself as she is taken
hostage and slowly dragged downstairs into the basement before anyone can reach
her. But the most terrifying part is the film’s close, where the voices that
were present during the opening of the film, return. This time they are not
alone. They whisper back and forth will Sally now a part of them, patiently now
awaiting their next victim to move into the house. She is now one of them.
All I can remember as a kid is lying motionless in my bed,
the covers over me, and the sound of the music playing over the credits as the
film ended, terrified for having watched it. I could head the goblin’s whispers
in my mind as I turned the television off and I could see them there with me in
my bedroom. I was startled with every single noise, turning restlessly in my
bed with the fear of one of the goblins coming out of the closet or under my
bed to grab me as punishment for watching it. I remember staying up most of the
night, even afraid to turn the television back on to keep my company, and
prayed to have the night pass quickly. My first encounter with a horror film
was my father’s doing. This one was something I would have to take complete
responsibility for.
I didn’t come across this film again until just a few years
ago when I met a trader online who sent it to me. The funny thing is when it
came in the mail, I waited until that night to sit in front of it again. And I
watched it just as I did that very first time back in the early eighties: all
the lights off and wrapped in a blanket. It was nice to relive that night all
over again. But watching it the other night, I had completely forgotten the
simplicity of the plot and how effective the atmosphere was. For its time, and
for having it been shown on network television, many (as myself) consider it a
part of horror history. There are those key scenes that still make me jump and
put my hands over my mouth. And until the other night, I guess I hadn’t
realized how much of an emotional attachment I have to this little film.
Which is why I was furious with Benicio del Toro’s remake! I
went to watch it and was immediately put off with how the main character is not
a grown woman, but a little girl. It just wasn’t the same for me. Possibly
because I have this peeve of remakes having the plots of its predecessors
re-tooled or tinkered with (as I experienced with The Last House on the Left, Evil
Dead and so on...). I don’t even want to get into that as there are many
fans that I’ve spoken to who consider the remake to be brilliant. I will only
agree on some level because Del Toro’s name is attached to it as I consider him
a horror visionary and I’ve read that he is as fond of the original film as I
am. It’s a travesty that the very hard to find readily available on home media
be it on original VHS form or in DVD. Aside from it being available
made-to-order from the Warner Archive website, you cannot get your hands on
this at any local store. It’s too bad that this film isn’t readily available
for the long time die-hard fan of the film much less a new budding horror fan
to get his hands on and experience it first-hand. It really is a shame as this
one deserves to have its place in every horror fan’s collection. Maybe one day
one of the current popular media distributors can grab hold of the rights (even
temporary) just to get this one out to a larger market. It honestly should be
more popular and more respected than just being a cult film among us older
fans. But, maybe that’s best as those of us who hold it near and dear to our
hearts will treasure it for many more years to come and pass it on to the
younger up and comers who have the desire to be exposed to the classics…and
only the classics.
