Del Toro Promises Serious Scares in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark | Underwire

SAN DIEGO — Guillermo Del Toro told would-be horror storytellers to keep things visual if they want him to consider their projects.

“I can’t listen to story pitches,” he said during the Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark presentation at Comic-Con International here Friday, “but If you’ve got a portfolio of drawings or a short film, fucking show it to me!”

He’s not just blowing hot air. First-time feature filmmaker Troy Nixey got his shot at directing old-school screamfest Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark by e-mailing Del Toro a few .jpgs featuring monsters from his 2000 short film Latchkey’s Lament.

“To get a guy like Guillermo Del Toro to see your short film and then ask you to direct a movie he wrote the script for is like a dream come true,” Nixey said during the Hall H presentation.

The filmmakers unveiled a Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark trailer and previewed a gripping Gothic sequence centered on an exceptionally brutal bit of dungeon dentistry performed on a hapless housemaid who falls down the stairs. After the clip, Del Toro questioned an admiring fan: “Did you crap in your pants?…. Figuratively of course.”

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, set for Jan. 21 release, contains no profanity or nudity, but nonetheless received an R rating because it was simply too scary for younger audiences.

“I consider that R a badge of honor,” said Del Toro, who wrote and produced the movie, which is based on a 1973 TV movie of the same name.

He scripted the remake in 1997 but had a hard time selling its hard-core terror to studio bigwigs, who wanted the filmmaker to tone down the ending. The setup: When a little girl (played by Bailee Madison) visits her father (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the old mansion, she triggers evil forces within.

A day earlier at Comic-Con, Del Toro announced that he will be developing a movie called The Haunted Mansion based on the classic Disney attraction.

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See Also:

• Guillermo Del Toro Will Rebuild Disney's Haunted Mansion in 3-D

via wired.com

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