Watch: Guillermo del Toro talks creatures of 'Haunted Mansion,' 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'

Guillermo del Toro described his forthcoming reboot of TV movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" in terms of "sweaty and rankled" balls at Comic-Con earlier in the day, but he also insists it is "beautiful and gorgeous to look at."

In an interview with HitFix, the famed "Pan's Labyrinth" director said he intended for the film to tread the line between B-grade horror and high class thrills.

"[Horror films] are meant to elicit an emotion, therefore they're meant to scare the crap out of you," he said. "But it's done with a lot of class. It's beautiful, it's gorgeous to look at... that's the high brow aspect of it.

He hoped, too, to "honor" the creatures in the original flick, though their look may still surprise you. "These creatures are hidden for a good portion of the film, but when they show up, they're absolutely terrifying."

But, as the world knows now, the Mexican director had even more big news to celebrate at the 'Con this year: on Thursday, it was announced he'd be helming up Disney's "The Haunted Mansion," based on the notorious Disneyland ride. Will it be anything like "Pirates of the Caribbean," another ride-to-film franchise?

"Only in the sense of scale," del Toro says, describing it as a "big event movie." Again, he wants to keep it "classy, beautiful," but likely won't carry the Hard R rating that "Don't Be Afraid" earned. It will be "a movie that is both fun and scary, not dark and grimy and scary."

Furthermore, he said his monsters will be both live action actors and CGI creatures, incorporating puppetry and "every trick in the book."

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.