YMMV / Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

• Broken Base: Whether the movie is scary or not. Detractors say that the homunculi aren't frightening (see Narm below), that the tooth fairy lore added to them was unnecessary, and that the movie goes too long with periods of nothing happening in an effort to build tension. Supporters say that the horror comes from the parental worries angle, that the unseen world the homunculi come from and want to drag Sally to is the scary thing as opposed to the homunculi themselves, and that the "boring" periods are effective at providing a tense, creepy atmosphere.
• Fan Nickname: Screamer, for the homunculus that pulls a jump scare on Sally under the covers of her bed.
• Funny Moments: This Black Comedy moment:
  Kim: This was mine. My grandma gave it to me.
  Sally: My mom gave me to my dad.
  • During the party, Sally catches one of the homunculi (most likely Blackwood) on camera. While Sally waits for the photo to develop, she keeps snatching the photo away from the adults trying to see what the photo is of and even sits on it to hide it, with one of the homunculi crawling under the table. Eventually, the homunculus begins a tug-of-war with her with the napkin on her lap (this is unseen by the adults as her father is doing his speech, and just appears as if Sally is fidgeting). Eventually, Sally just gives up and lets the homunculus TAKE the napkin before trying to spot where it is under the table. The creature quickly jumps up and snatches the photo from beneath her butt and scurries off, quickly ripping its image out of the photo, with Sally giving chase. Despite the fact that it's clearly trying to keep its races existence secret, it's sort of hilarious that this ancient, evil creature is camera shy and goes to such lengths to get the photo from a child.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Kim, despite being unwanted by Sally initially, continually attempts to form a connection with her and befriend her.
    • This starts with her gifting Sally a teddy bear when she comes to the airport, talking to Sally about her job, and being supportive of her work.
    • Kim, unlike Alex, instantly believes Sally when her clothes are torn up by the homunculi, seeing that she's afraid and not angry at Kim (as Alex believes).
    • When Mr. Harris is attacked by the homunculi, Kim approaches Sally and first comforts her, assuring that he'll be okay. She then shows Sally the garden, talking about the imported koi fish and how they need to be tough because of their bright colours making them ideal for predators, the speech being made to tell Sally she can be tough too. When Sally tearfully swears she didn't ruin her clothes, Kim immediately waves it off, not caring about them and gives her a hug.
    • Kim comes in and tucks Sally in. When Sally asks her not to leave and not turn off the lights, Kim agrees and sleeps in the bed with her, even kissing her forehead when she finally does leave after Sally is sound asleep.
    • Later before the party, Sally lets Kim do her hair, with Kim letting her borrow her bird pin (an heirloom of Kim's own parents) and smiles afterwards when Kim promises to get her out after the party, no matter what. When Kim finds Alex's straight razor, which Sally was using to protect herself, she immediately takes it away, but instead gives Sally her Instamatic, as it allows her to fend off the homunculi with the flash.
    • When Kim finds the pictures drawn by Blackwood that almost match Sally's drawing of the homunculi, she immediately begins packing Sally's things, not willing to risk her safety, even though Alex thinks it's just Sally's imagination. She refuses to wait until the party is over either, she's already packed and ready when the homunculi try to attack Sally in the library.
    • Mixed with Tearjerker. After Kim is taken by the homunculi and Sally returns to the house with Alex, not only does she leave a picture of the pair together by the tree outside, she also has her hair done up the same way Kim did for her at the party, showing she had made a change in the little girl's life.
  • When Kim goes to visit Mr Harris as he's recovering after the homunculi's attack, she sees a drawing that Sally drew of him working with wishes for him to get well soon. Even though the man was a bit tough on her (with good reason), Sally clearly likes the caretaker enough to send him a card.
  • A minor one, but during the bathroom attack, the Blackwood homunculus exits the grate and puts its arm around a smaller one of the creatures. Given the information we learn, the second is most likely Blackwood's son who was also transformed, showing his father's affection did not die with their transformation.
  • Alex, while not fully believing everything Sally has said, eventually decides to do what's best for her and get her out of the house and take the three of them (himself, Kim and Sally) to a hotel.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: At the beginning of the film, Sally can be seen drawing a spiral... yeah...
• Narm:
  • The teaser trailer of the film featured over-the-top narration by one of the creatures. Instead of being scary, it ended up hilarious.
  • The homunculi lapse into this quite a bit in the movie, mostly because they do not shut up ever. And sound kind of like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.
    • And are small enough to punt across the room.
    • The creatures from the original TV movie weren't much better. Their heads are shaped and textured like walnuts, and the furry costumes used are reminiscent of the notorious teddy bear-esque "gremlin" from a famous "Twilight Zone" episode.
  • The second time the homunculi attempted to stab someone in the eye, and missed.
• Rewatch Bonus: Watch the film again, and pay attention to the scene where the Homunculi attack Sally in the bath. The camera focuses on two homunculi, an elderly-looking one wrapping its arm around another, smaller homunculus. In other words, Blackwood and his son.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: Marco Beltrami's score for this film can bring in mind Graeme Revell's score to Child's Play 2 (appropriate considering both horror films features a child protagonist in center stage trying to combat the supernatural antagonists plaguing his/her life and trying to target him/her, while most of the Adults Are Useless). Beltrami's work on this film and other horror movie scores he has done can also be viewed as a new age Spiritual Successor to the underrated orchestral 80s horror film scores of fellow film composer Richard Einhorn for such works as the Slasher Movie Eyes of a Stranger, Dead of Winter and Sister, Sister.
• Ugly Cute: Well, of course the Homunculi are hideous, frightening, murderous creatures. But they're also very small and like to patter around. When they aren't screaming, they sort of resemble monkeys.
• The Woobie:
  • Sally. Her parents are divorced, her mother basically abandoned her, and it's implied that she has little to no friends. Then there's the whole matter of the homunculi trying to get her...
  • Kim as well. She is having a rough patch in her relationship with Alex, Sally hates her, and she initially is the only person in the house who seems to understand Sally. Then she gets her leg snapped and is captured by the homunculi, apparently doomed to live eternally as one of them.

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