A little spoiler warning right off the bat as Bloody Disgusting scored some images from behind-the-scenes of the opening sequence in Troy Nixey’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (review), the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror opening in theaters August 26 from FilmDistrict.

The images prelude the story of Sally and set up the mythology behind the little creatures. An old man loses some (a lot of) teeth. That’s all you need to know…

“The pic follows Sally, a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. Having stumbled upon the mansion’s hidden basement, Sally starts hearing voices calling out from the bolted ash pit, imploring her to open it. Sally obliges and unwittingly unleashes something so terrible, so unthinkable, that everyone’s life – hers most of all – is placed in immediate and grave danger.”

“Once upon a time, more than a hundred years ago, the only son of the renowned naturalist and artist Emerson Blackwood disappeared into the inky blackness of their basement ash pit. Blackwood soon discovered, to his horror, that his boy had been abducted by an ancient race of creatures and in order for his son to be returned, he had to enter a pact with the evil beings. Yet in no time Emerson vanished himself, never to emerge.

The horrific story of the Blackwoods’ fate–and the ancient evil behind it–has lain buried in that basement ever since, sealed off like a mausoleum and left undisturbed. That is, until now. Several new tenants have just moved into Blackwood Manor: Alex Hurst (Guy Pearce), an ambitious architect and divorced parent with big plans for his new home; Kim (Katie Holmes), Alex’s beautiful young coworker and current live-in girlfriend; and Sally (Bailee Madison), Alex’s estranged and lonely young daughter.”