Last summer, Katie Holmes ran far away from Xenu and went to Australia to film a creepy horror film called Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. It was intended to be the definitive take on “Life With Xenu: The Darkness Descends”. No, I jest. It’s a remake of a somewhat forgotten 1970s horror film that is getting a totally new, creepy, terrifying reboot by writer/director Guillermo del Toro. Originally, del Toro was supposed to direct the film, but he ended up just writing the screenplay and producing, while director Troy Nixey helmed the project. Even this attachment of del Toro’s name to the project is enough to send the fanboys into geek heaven, though. Fanboys love del Toro’s work, and from the few films I’ve seen of his oeuvre, he is one of the most imaginative writer/director/producerss working today. My favorite of his was Pan’s Labyrinth, a beautiful, creepy, sad, lush film that was part fairy tale and part nightmare. Anyway, here’s the trailer:

Apparently, del Toro and Nixey were aiming for a PG-13 rating, but when they submitted the film to the MPAA, it got an R rating. Del Toro told the crowd at Comic-Con: “We originally thought we could shoot it as PG-13 without compromising the scares. And then the MPAA came back and gave us a badge of honor. They gave us an R for ‘pervasive scariness.’ We asked them if there’s anything we could do, and they said, ‘Why ruin a perfectly scary movie?’” The basic plot: Guy Pierce (yay!) is the father to a young girl. Dad, the girl, and dad’s girlfriend Katie Holmes move into a creepy old mansion. The girl finds a secret basement, which is full of horrors and creepy things. LIKE XENU.

Seriously, though. I think this was a great career move for Katie. One her better choices. She does “haunted” very well. Coughcoughallthetimecough.