MovieChat Forums > Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) Discussion > It's great and all, but I don't understa...

It's great and all, but I don't understand... (SPOILERS)

posted 21 years ago by drumk
18 replies | jump to latest

While I thought this was a pretty neat little horror film, it left me with so many questions. So, there's these little demon guys trapped in a fireplace. When someone frees them, they bring that person into the fireplace. Then, the survivors of that person seal the fireplace back up. And the cycle continues... What!? Why were they sealed up to begin with? And, why do people keep sealing that fireplace without trying to rescue the people that are taken in there? Wouldn't the police want a body? And, what would the demons do if the fireplace wasn't sealed back up, and thus have no one to free them again? So many questions... Maybe I'm nitpicking, but it really bothers me.

[–] bobafett139 21 years ago

Those are good questions but here is a better one. Once Sally realizes that there are little demons trying to get her (which she does in the bathroom scene), why the hell doesnt she run screaming from the house? NO, she just decides to sleep with the light on. WTF?

[–] DragonHunter 20 years ago

I remember watching this movie when I was about 14. I was babysitting a 4 year old girl and she went to sleep at like 8:00. I had nothing to do but sit and watch T.V. It was a Friday night and this movie was all that was on. I remember that after it was over there was nothing else on and then the people didn't come home until real late. I'm talking 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I was afraid to fall asleep on the couch because I feared if I woke up I'd see a little face looking at me. And forget about walking down the long dark hall to go to the bathroom.

If I remember correctly - and if any one disagrees with this please set me straight- the little monsters in the basement were relatives of the woman in the movie. It seems that the people in the family were doomed somehow to become these little monsters. That doesn't explain why the fireplace was boarded up or where they would get any more of their victims.

Maybe someone who has seen the movie recently can help out a little here.

[–] sawyertom 20 years ago

I always figured that once they were dragged down there, the people became demons or little monsters as well. Hence, Sally talking at the end. They were waiting for somebody else, not neccessarily family to free them. It was kind of a small study Devil's Triangle type thing. The police probably figured that the pit down there was bottomless or something since there appeared to be no end in sight. That's what I have been able to surmize through the years.

[–] GroovyDoom 20 years ago

I was always more amazed by the fact that it was supposed to be a fireplace, yet...it didn't have a bottom? Where were they putting the logs all those years before it was boarded up???

And also, I want to know why the old man wouldn't warn them about what was going on in time. By the time he finally decided to tell them something strange was going on, he wouldn't tell it to the husband over the phone, he made the husband drive all the way to his house, LEAVING THE WIFE ALONE IN THE HOUSE, and he STILL wound up telling the husband nothing about what was going on!

Perhaps the biggest question of all is: why wouldn't Sally just LEAVE the house? Even after the friend knew what was going on, she still didn't have enough sense to just get Sally and get OUT of the house.

Of course then there would have been no movie.

[–] blue7 20 years ago

As far as I could tell, the old man wouldn't warn them about what was going on because the little monsters would have killed him. They attack him with a screwdriver at one point because they think he told Sally and Mr. Sally the truth. He gibbers and begs and says he didn't tell, so they only stick him in the hand and let him live. Best reason I can think of for him to make Mr. Sally drive to him. On the other hand, though, that fireplace was a bit of a stretch. Gee, it's sure a long way down there. Better just drop the flashlight down there and start looking for a new wife.

[–] afraidofthedark 20 years ago

You know, I never thought of the whole bottomless fireplace thing...oh poop. Although I guess if you accept the whole demons in the fireplace thing, a bottomless fireplace is not a far stretch. Plus, maybe the fireplace wasn't originally bottomless? Demons do have powers, ya know? And if you made some sort of pact w/the devil, I suppose he could hollow out your fireplace. ;-)

[–] EddieAP 20 years ago

This is exactly what I ment about leaving it to ones imagination. That's why they didn't give us all the info. It could go anywhere, no one thought is right or wrong. But it does make you think!

Open it. Today might be your lucky day.

[–] afraidofthedark 20 years ago

Agreed. Sometimes what you come up with on your own is the scariest, most interesting/thought provoking/disturbing scenario...especially when you realize that you came up with something quite possibly deranged! The mind wanders down interesting paths.

[–] EddieAP 20 years ago

Yes. Not to mention that when we dream our everyday lives come into play also. Adding to the mix with what's already there. WOW, what a movie that would make!

Open it. Today might be your lucky day.

[–] afraidofthedark 20 years ago

MmmmHmmm...it's true what they say...truth really is stranger than! Cliche, but it works.

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 19 years ago

Any of you guys from 2005 still reading this thread? Its pretty old, and I found it at the end of the thread / bottom of the ashpit.

It was an ash-pit (or ash dump, whichever you prefer) where the creatures lived. It is a hole in the firepace floorbrick typically about the size of a shoebox, and opens to an ash dump under the chimney. Ash was once saved for the manufacture of lye, and also for easy cleaning.

Although small animals (Racoons, rheses monkeys, maybe even a cat) could get through such an opening, dragging a human (even a small child) would be unlikely. Also, it is unlikely an ash-dump would be in a basement fireplace since it is already below grade, unless it emptied into a cave system in which to sweep the ashes. I suppose an ash-dump could be as large as 1x2 feet, but it is unlikely.

Presumably there was some kind of interdimensional doorway down there.

[–] lnifan2000 19 years ago

I was thinking about other movies or shows that used this idea. I remember a TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE that was similiar to this and also maybe THE GATE. Seems there is always "some kind of interdimensional doorway" as you put it. There was an interdimensional doorway in PHANTASM as well.

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 19 years ago

Oh, lots of them. Dimensional doorways are about the only plausable way to breach the near incomprehensable distance between the stars. Dimensional doorways also may open to (1)Hyperspace; (2) Places in our space that we don't have access to with our physical bodies; (3) pocket-sized closed or small dimensions/universes that are a separate universe unto themselves.

I tend to think the hole beneath the fireplace went to a cave system or a dark, hellish netherworld, or, more specifically, something that was both -- but with limited access to this world via the fireplace.

I don't think the guys on "Don't be afraid of the dark" were as missionary-minded as Phantasm, who were actively stealing the dead and making them into dwarf slaves for an unknown angry red planet (the final Phantasm movie sucked and gave too much explanation -- all of which stunk. What's wrong with a hostile race superior to us slowly enslaving us via death? Sounds morbidly horrible). The little demonesque goblinoid things on Don't Be Afraid of the Dark were on a smaller mission: they merely wanted Sally. I always assumed it was for female companionship and maybe the joy of sex or less mentionable things.

Transformation of the body through death into ugly brown dwarves was a common theme in both. Phantasm's "dwarves" were about 2-3 times the size of the goblinesque things on Don't Be Aftaid of the Dark.

I enjoy comparing the movies, however.

[–] diezman 18 years ago

I wondered about the "bottomless fireplace" even when I first saw this movie back in 1973.

There are many unanswered questions in this movie like why were the windows to Sally's grandfather's study boarded up? And, of course, why was there a bottomless fireplace?

We, as viewers, do not know the background of the story. Was Sally's grandfather some kind of satanist? And was he experimenting with hexes ect. in his study? Did he interact with the gnomes? This would probably explain the boarded up windows. Did Sally's grandfather construct the fireplace to another dimension?

I believe that Sally's grandmother had the fireplace sealed after the gnomes supposedly took him to this other dimension (or wherever)

This would lead to another question- Would one of the gnomes be Sally's grandfather.

I was dead set AGAINST a remake. I read a few years ago that it was going to be remade but haven't read anything about it since. Maybe a remake would give us some background information. Maybe it would also get the original released on DVD (my VHS copy is getting worn out!)

I said this in another thread- With the huge cult following this movie has, why isn't it out on DVD???? Whoever owns the rights would make a fortune from us "oldtimers" LOL alone!

[–] jquirk-1 18 years ago

I believe everybody here has it all wrong. I always felt that Sally's body was recovered from the bottom of the fireplace after she fell in. It was her soul that was transferred into one of those hideous demon bodies. I remember thinking this back in the late 1970s when I first saw it.

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 18 years ago

I got that impression, too, back in the'70s. They said it was her soul that they wanted. So, maybe it wasn;t transformation but translation or transferrence of souls.

[–] Carrigon 18 years ago

I just rewatched this movie. The little creatures said they needed Sally to be with them, live with them, be one of them. But somehow, they had to kill her first. They needed her soul. I think the movie leaves alot of unanswered questions. The handyman said the place was build in the 1880's or so. The fireplace was already bricked up when Sally's grandparents bought the place. So it does make you wonder just how long has this been going on in that house. We never find out. And we never find out what those creatures are or why they are there. And we don't find out what happened afterwards. We only know that the house was still there at the end of the movie and Sally is still alive somehow, in some form. And she tells the creatures that others will come and set them free. Maybe her husband only bricked it all back up again.

I would love to see if the remake will answer some of these questions. I hope so. This was a great, enduring horror film.

[–] jquirk-1 18 years ago

I just don't know if it would be necessary to answer the questions of this film. It's effective as it is, and it leaves a lot, successfully I believe, to the imagination. Besides, when it comes to the supernatural, I don't believe any of us are supposed to, or are capable of, ever understanding it. I like this film the way it is.