Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, Del Toro Says

Guillermo del Toro and Miramax will produce a remake of the horror-thriller movie DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The remake will be the first big venture into genre filmmaking under president Daniel Battsek.

Troy Nixey, a comic book writer and artist, will make his feature directorial debut on DON'T BE AFRAID, which aired on ABC in 1973 and has since become a cult classic. Del Toro is working on an adaptation of Nigel McKeand's teleplay with Matthew Robbins, his writing partner on 1997 horror flick MIMIC for Miramax's former genre label Dimension.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein took the Dimension Films label and several genre projects with them when they left Disney to form The Weinstein Co. in 2005.

DON'T BE AFRAID is about a young girl who discovers sinister creatures under the stairs in her father's new house.

Miramax Director of Production and Development Michael Falbo will oversee for the studio under President of Production Keri Putnam.

The production should be a combination of del Toro's creature's from PAN'S LABYRINTH and the distinctive characters that make up Miramax's library.

Directed by John Newland, the original TV movie gained a cult following through syndication and home video release.

Nixey wrote and directed the supernatural thriller short LATCHKEY'S LAMENT in 2007, a mix of CG animation and live action. He has illustrated BATMAN and MATRIX comics as well as writing and illustrating TROUT for Dark Horse Comics, which is in development at Phoenix Pictures.

"It has always been a dream of mine to work on a project with Guillermo, my favorite filmmaker," Nixey said to the REPORTER. "I had no idea it would be on my first one out. Miramax's faith in me is everything a first-time director could ask for."

Del Toro is also mentoring ORPHANAGE director Juan Antonio Bayona.