Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

What it's about:

Sally Hurst, a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex and his new girlfriend, Kim, at the 19th-century mansion they’re restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creatures who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy — before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all.
 
What the critics thought:

"A welcome alternative to the current genre offerings, steeped in old-fashioned atmosphere and faithful to haunted house routine, albeit to a fault."
- William Goss, Film.com


"It's watchable enough and elegantly staged, but it's an Amityville Horror with delusions of grandeur."
- Philip French, The Observer


"Maybe it's not one of his very best haunted house stories, but it's Guillermo del Toro, so it's still entertaining."
- Eric Goldman, IGN Movies