"The Woman in Black" Review

The Woman in Black has been a highly anticipated film for quite some time now, but not for any of its own merits- most of the publicity has centered around the fact that it is Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Harry Potter starring role, as well as one of the first horror productions by the legendary Hammer Film since 1979. If not for those two factors, it's likely that this film would have slipped completely under the radar- which would have been a shame, for The Woman in Black is a perfectly good horror film in its own right.

Based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill, and previously adapted as a long-running play in 1987 and a TV movie in 1989, The Woman in Black centers around a small village in 1920s England, which is believed to be cursed: in a nearby marshland rests an old, dingy house, where haunts The Woman in Black. Whenever the Woman is seen, that means that soon after, a child is going to die, often in shocking, unexpected circumstances.

The house was occupied by a Mrs. Drabow until just before the film's events, but she has died. A young lawyer named Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) has been sent to the village so that he may sort through her papers and find her will, and any other documents of importance. Kipps has had his own share of problems: his wife died in childbirth four years ago, leaving him to raise their son Joseph alone; he is overdue on his bills; and he is in danger of being fired. He needs this job badly- so you can forgive him for ignoring the townspeople's repeated plea: Don't go into the marshes!

Alas, he does, indeed, go into the marshes, and horror ensues. The house reverberates with unexplainable activity, children suddenly begin dying left and right, and as Kipps continues to investigate the house, he begins to unravel an unsettling story of hate and betrayal.

The Woman in Black is the "old" kind of horror, so rather than shocking or disturbing the audience, it relies on foreboding atmosphere to provide fear. Director James Watkins is great at providing the atmosphere- every waking moment in the Drabow home is tense and unsettling- but the majority of the scares are of the "jump out at you" variety. Jump scares aren't an inherent problem (indeed, quite a few of them work fine in this film) but when an otherwise quiet, calm scene is suddenly punctuated by a crow jumping right at the screen, and then the scene is quiet again, you can't help but feel that the writer was short on ideas. Just because it's a horror movie, doesn't mean that the audience must be in constant fear of the screen.

The eternal question surrounding The Woman in Black is "can Daniel Radcliffe do a non-Potter role?" I'm happy to report that yes, he can. Arthur Kipps is a rather different character from Harry: he's quiet, weary, depressed, and gives off an air of having given up on the world. Radcliffe plays the part well, and is especially great in the scenes in which Kipps encounters the paranormal activities in the house; everything, from his facial expressions, to his posture, to his movements, show a man who's scared out of his wits, but not about to back down from his goals. Radcliffe spends a good portion of the film as the only actor in the scene, so his ability to emote without anything tangible to react to is especially impressive.

You'll need to suspend your disbelief slightly to enjoy scenes featuring Kipps' son and late wife- Radcliffe looks older as Arthur Kipps than he actually is, but it is still rather difficult to believe that he has a 4-year-old son, and was once married. The actor is only 22, and looking at him, it's still not possible to see him as any older than 25.

Ciarán Hinds plays the skeptical Sam Daily, who is the only citizen of the town that does not treat Kipps with hostility. Daily doesn't believe in the Woman in Black- even as the evidence becomes more and more clear that it was she that caused the death of his own son, Nathaniel. Janet McTeer plays his wife, who, ever since Nathaniel's death, has been having psychic experiences that she insists are messages from Nathaniel's ghost- and those experiences are quite disturbing to behold. The Woman in Black herself is portrayed by Liz White, and is one of the scariest movie spectres I've seen in a long time.

The majority of the supporting cast is good, but their performances are quite over the top. When the mother of a dying child was shown screaming "NOOOOO! LUCYYYYYYYYYY! MY BAAAAABYYYYYYY!", I honestly felt like laughing, and would have if the rest of the scene weren't so appropriately chilling. The horror genre is one of the only genres where hammy acting doesn't necessarily get in the way of the rest of the film, but it'd have been nice to have more understated performances.

The Woman in Black is ultimately "merely-good", and it's not likely to be remembered as any sort of horror masterpiece, but it does its job well, and if Radcliffe can continue to bring solid performances as he does here, then his future is very bright.

Awesome