Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Don't Be Afraid of Blackwood Manor

A few months ago, I watched the Guillermo del Toro movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.  The best part of the movie to me was the incredible house.  The film itself was not necessarily the best thing I've ever seen, but it is, at heart, a mythic story.  If you decide to watch the movie, I very highly recommend you precede it by reading the book Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Faeries, which is a really enjoyable and creepy story, and gives the movie more depth, since the movie starts where the book ends.

But whether you watch the movie or not, you can stand in awe of the images below.

As always, please do click images to enlarge immensely.

Blackwood's estate:

Little Sally's room is beautiful, right down to the wallpaper.  Charming and simple, yes?  Or...
 ....not as simple as you might think.  Look closer.  There are repeating patterns of human figures among the flowers, in a very Walter Crane style.  I. Want. This. Wallpaper. 

Not to mention of course the spinning shadow-caster, which I have yet to be able to find a real one of online (I've wanted one since Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow)
 More shots of the amazing wallpaper and Sally's room:



 The beautiful grounds of the estate:
 Sally approaches a sculpture...a sphere made from animal bones and antlers:
 Emerson Blackwood's insignia on the stained glass of the house door.
 And on the stained glass window in the library:
 The stove in Blackwood's studio figures greatly into the story, and has runes etched above it into the stone:
 The front door is absolutely stunning, but there aren't many good still shots of it in the movie.  Stained glass and wood carving creates a tree.
 Speaking of trees, how would you like to have this one on your property?
 Even the local library is droolworthy.
 The amazing enormous entry to the manor.  Notice the tree-carved pillars.  The leaf-carved bannisters.  The forest murals.  The stained glass.  The wow factor.
 Blackwood's decrepit studio, with a beautiful skylight, and a very creepy mural.
 This is about the only shot I could find that shows the front door:
 Notice the bell jars on the counter:
 Just look at that door!  Wow.
 The manor house

Can I have one?  Can I? 

5 comments:

  1. I would definitely live there! (After bricking up the basement stove of course.)
    The wallpaper in Sally's room is Sleeping Beauty by Walter Crane.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bryony, you rock. Thank you for identifying the wallpaper. Now if only someone made a reproduction!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Minus the tooth faeries though

    ReplyDelete
  4. My work has a lot of the people ...we are selling them..they are awesome...

    ReplyDelete