The Woman In Black

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2012
Country of origin:	UK / Canada / Sweden
Director:	James Watkins
Genre:	Classic chills
Starring:	Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/
Tagline:	Do you believe in ghosts?
Favourite line:	"I believe the most rational mind can play tricks in the dark."

With much made in the press of the distributor’s self-censorship to ensure a 12a certificate, the real interest should lie in Daniel Radcliffe’s ascension from child actor to growed up filums.

The plot:
A (very) young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), is tasked with selling on a large manor house in a remote village. Arriving, Kipps is treated with suspicion and, to begin with, no-one will take him to the house.
Persuading the driver of a horse drawn cart to drop him off at the secluded manor house – cut off from the mainland for half the day when the tide is in – it’s not long before things start going bump in the night, and Kipps is drawn in to the terrible vengeance sought by The Woman in Black, a restless spirit who seeks the souls of children, to make up for the one she has lost.

Based on a novel by Susan Hill, this is a classic ghost story, retold for the modern viewer, with Radcliffe the cypher through whose eyes the action is seen.
Faces at windows, doors opening by themselves, sinister noises, all the elements that you would expect from such a chiller are present and correct, and little else besides.
Not a criticism, per se, as it delivers precisely what it promises, but for a jaded horror hack such as yours truly, a bit of extra spice to the torment is needed.
Radcliffe himself is perfectly functional, doing a decent job with some fairly tricky material – he doesn’t get many lines, and spends much of the movie creeping about the old house by himself, merely reacting to the sinisternessnessness, but he does it jolly well all the same. True, he isn’t really old enough for the role he’s playing – a lawyer, a widower, a father – but that’s a cynical casting decision, so not really his fault.
A runaway success at the British box office at least, it is genuinely pleasing to see Hammer back in action again and, with this and Let Me In under their belts already, seems they are definitely going down the right road.
Nothing spectacular on offer, here, but efficient enough for the genre.
Decent.