If 3-D hadn't come back, I'm sure they would not have done this movie. It is especially made for this format. And the scares do come, sometimes even giving the impression this could go even "darker" (no pun intended). But that only leaves you with the sour taste, that the tone sometimes does switch from child scares to real scares. It would have been nice, if it could have kept one pace/tone and stay/stick with it throughout the running time of the movie.
Then again this is Joe Dante. The guy, who also brought us Gremlins. But that movie did work. The mixture was well chosen (though I did like the second one even better than the first) then and a good beginning. This one is either too scary for some or not scary enough for others (is my prediction). Still the effects are looking good and there are a few good scares to be had ... if you like that sort of thing