Expert: Popcorn Guy - 8/9/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -
there is a movie where an older brother is babsitting a younger brother and the younger brother see's monsters but only in the dark.  the main monster guy wears a cowboy hat and a black trench coat.  in one scene the brothers are hiding under a sheet on the bed because if any part of you is sticking the guy can snatch you.  there is also something that happens in the basement. the little brother's toy truck rolls into the shadows and the guy grabs him. there is also a scene where the little brother is standing at the end of a long hallway and the cowboy hat trench coat guy comes into the hallway and rushes him.  any idea what this movie is.
Answer -
Hi, Tina...

Well, you have me stumped so far... do you remember anything else about it? When it was made, or when you first saw it? Do you remember any of the actors, or other movies they might have been in?

I keep thinking about "House 2: The Second Story" but I'm not sure this is what you are thinking about...

Send me a follow-up with any other info you can remember, and we'll see if we can't figure this out...

Let me know!

PCG

Hi Popcorn Guy,

I don't remember too much more but I definately know it wasn't house 2. I remember that the living room kept rearranging itself and i know there were other "people" that the little brpther could see but i can't remember what any of them look like. all I remember is the black trench coat guy.  I saw the movie within the last year and i have no idea who starred in it, they weren't famous people.  there was also a girlfriend of the older brother that pops in.  I would think that i dreamed this movie but two of my friends watched it with me and this is all the info we can remember and none of us can remember the name. any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Tina

Answer
Tina!!!! Gonna make your day here...

The film you are looking for is called "Fear of the Dark." It was made in 2002. See if this sounds familiar. It's a plot summary from someone who has seen it...

"The younger brother, Ryan, has a phobic fear of the dark that keeps him up at night and makes him afraid of any and all dark spaces inside the house. Dale is put in charge to babysit him. When there's a blackout during a rainy storm, Ryan begins to freak out. Dale swears to his bro that 'there's nothing in the dark, that's not there in the light' but Ryan doesn't believe him.

Over the course of the night, Ryan begins to see and experience strange things. The TV goes on and off -- flashing images from a horror movie. Strange sounds from upstairs and downstairs. The furniture gets re-arranged. And Ryan sees these strange images of a malevolent, grinning pale figure stalking him the (the SFX are really cool in these scenes).

Soon, the skeptical Dale sees the same things. The dark, literally, seems to be coming after them. The question arises that either Ryan's fear is contagious, or there really IS something living in the darkness.

The whole movie takes place in one night, in one house. Theres tons of suspense and some truly scary sequences. A lot of the horror is psychological but when we do see some of the visual scares, they pay off. The creatures are pretty eerie and definitely have a 'boogeyman-ish' type of vibe. What's cool is that the relationship between Dale and Ryan is really well detailed and you actually care about their characters. This harkens back to classics like 'Poltergeist' and Steven King's 'IT'. I really enjoyed this and hope this gets released wide soon. In a time where there's tons of crappy, violent, poorly-written horror movies -- a movie like this is a breath of fresh air."

The monster's attire is really never discussed, therefore I was striking out on every "cowboy" and "Trench coat" search I was trying...

Hope this helps,

PCG