Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

A lonely, maladjusted, and overly imaginative young girl arrives at her new home: A rural estate with a foreboding castle-like design and elaborately creepy gardens. Problems compound, from a distracted parent to supernatural creatures that only feign friendliness, and no adult believes the girl because she is lonely, maladjusted, and overly imaginative. Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth”? Yes, and its weak-sister “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which boasts del Toro as co-writer. So many repetitions abound I wondered if this loose remake of a 1973 TV movie was an abandoned first stab at a “Pan’s” screenplay, farmed out to a new directing/writing team. Bailee Madison (“Just Go With It”) is the girl, and she’s a young queen with a reason to scream: The rat-like trolls here want her teeth, and soul. The moody atmosphere makes up for the déjà vu vibe, but the real wet blanket is our adult leads, a sleep-walking Guy Pearce as dad, and a stiff Katie Holmes as the girlfriend, each acting as if they’d rather be in “Pan’s Labyrinth.” C+