Film Review: 'The Woman in Black'

Scare Factor

Visuals/Cinematography

The Creepiest Dolls Ever

 

Poor Character Development

Slow Pacing

Radcliffe as a widowed father, really?

RADCLIFFE LEAVES MAGIC BEHIND IN 'WOMAN IN BLACK'
 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The best horror movies follow you home. If you don’t have trouble falling asleep after watching a scary movie it hasn’t done its job. I saw “The Ring” in 2002 and had to cover up the TV in my bedroom for at least a week.

When it comes to the sleep test “The Woman in Black” fails. Watching this film is like walking through a haunted house.

It’s dark, creepy and the woman screaming behind you is almost more entertaining than the monster waiting in the shadows.

When you leave the theatre, you leave the movie behind as well.

Under pressure to complete the task or lose his job, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) is sent from London to a small, coastal town to settle the affairs of the late Alice Drablow, a reclusive widow who lives in an extremely creepy, rundown mansion (think classic haunted house) on a desolate causeway cut off from the mainland at high tide.
    
After arriving, Kipps comes across several hostile villagers who warn him to stay away from the old house, but determined to prove himself he carries on. During his work in the house, Kipps witnesses strange appearances of a ghostly woman in black and village children begin to die, apparently as a result of his presence in the home.

Viewers drawn in by their curiosity to see Radcliffe’s first post-Potter performance won’t be disappointed. 

Radcliffe delivers as much as the role requires of him, looking sad and frightened when necessary.

The real ghost in this story is the plot. The vengeful spirit haunts an isolated village where children die at their own hand. The promotional materials ask “What did they see?” but when the movie ends I wish they had seen more.

If you go into this movie looking for a hidden motive or a twist in the backstory you will end like Radcliffe, grasping at shadows in the fog on the causeway. This movie is as simple as it seems, though masked in the visual artistry of a genre that has delivered more.

The strongest element of “The Woman in Black” is the cinematography, effectively wrapping you up into this world of fear and darkness.

The material alone reads like a shopping list of classic horror imagery: disturbed children, creepy toys, an overgrown graveyard and a haunted house cut off from civilization.

Drawing on the successful techniques of previous suspense films “The Woman in Black” will have you on the edge of your seat. Always in the shadows, the specters deliver scare after scare, each punctuated by a spine numbing shriek of a violin or bang of a drum.

If your taste leans toward the gothic 19th century look no further.  You will be entertained. You will be scared. Just go along with the ride and try not to think to overthink it.