Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

And then this is a made for TV movie that people always talk to me about and have been asking me to get.

It's called Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Do you know that at all? No.

It's got Kim Darby and she and her husband move into this great old house.

Unbelievable.

OK.

So that movie he was talking about, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, it was shortly after that movie came out that I was traveling with my parents, including my older brother, stayed at this creepy motel between here and Arkansas.

And it had a light switch on the outside of the bathroom.

For a lot of my childhood, they were just movies that showed up on the local station.

And I think the two movies that had the biggest impact on me at my youngest that I can remember years, and I'm talking four and five, were probably Gargoyles and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

And I saw them both around the same time.

I can't recall which one I saw first, but Don't Be Afraid of the Dark terrified me so much.

I did not see the full film until I was grown up.

I just could not handle those monsters in that film.

They really enjoyed him.

I actually contacted John Newland.

And then, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention two of the most memorable TV movies, and they both were aired in 1973.

One is Don't Be Afraid of the Dark from October 10th, 1973.

I really don't have to reiterate what this film is all about because most people know it was actually remade as a theatrical film in 2011 because Guillermo del Toro was a huge fan of it.

But the original is still the best, directed by John Newland.

I'm holding it in my hand, Amanda.

Featuring essays and reviews regarding a variety of genre telefilms, she's contributed commentary tracks, liner notes, and on-camera interviews from multiple DVD and Blu-ray releases, including Night Terror, Pray for the Wildcats, bless you, Moon of the Wolf, Someone's Watching Me, Kolchak the Night Stalker, Salem's Lot, and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, just to name a few.

She's been a host, guest speaker, and lecturer at conferences, film festivals, and screenings around the world, in Australia and UK, as well as here in the US.

You've also seen her on such shows as Eli Roth's History of Horror and the 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments.

It's funny how the horror movies are the ones that stay with me all these years later, Amanda.

You know, I'm older than both of you.

So I remember them as a little more than just dreamlike images, right? But the ones that stay with me are Savages and Killer Bees and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

And I

They have been putting out these Warner, like, Lorimar TV movies on, on video, doing 4...

They did a 4K version, Vinegar Syndrome, of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, you know, which is amazing.

And they're, they just put out the Barbara Eden starring Richard Matheson scripted The Stranger Within that I saw when I was a kid, and I'm like, "Oh." I mean, uh, incredible.

What is Jimmy doing? [laughs]

And so I had this babysitter named Debbie Black, and for whatever reason, she was like one of these TV Guide...

She knew when movies were on, and she'd come over, and while my parents would be out till, like, 1 or 2 or something, she would always...

She was the girl that showed me Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, 'cause they would repeat these movies a lot on late night TV.

And, and, um, I got to see, like, that on...

I get to sit in the atmosphere of, uh, of something from that era, you know?

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, another great, uh, '70s TV movie.

Hey.

Trilogy of Terror.

Um, The first one we went to, which just like, I mean, the very first one, here's the lineup.

Halloween, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Hellraiser, Phantasm, Pieces, An American Werewolf in London, Blackula, Burial Ground, Teenage Mother, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Demons, Alligator, City of the Living Dead.

Now, there's like seven movies there that would have been like the movie.

they would show