The Woman in Black Review

After nearly ten years of playing the titular role in the world famous Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe makes his transition to the horror genre with the film adaptation of ‘’The Women in Black’’.

Set in the Edwardian era, Arthur Kipps, a young and troubled solicitor, is asked to examine a house in north east England, only this is no ordinary house. It soon becomes apparent that the house is haunted by an evil spirit seeking revenge for her child who drowned in the marshes; Kipps has no choice but to unravel the mystery or risk losing his job. The film relies on chills, suspense and an all-round tense atmosphere to frighten its audience. Radcliffe’s character comes off as quite emotionless to begin with given that Gibbs lost his wife in childbirth but his experience with this spirit clearly opens up to a wider array of feelings by the end of the piece. The film conforms to a structure of Arthur going to the house, which is where the film offers most of its chills and scare factor and daylight scenes in the town in which the spirit strikes upon another family. While this does allow the casual horror viewer to take in the shocks and receive a reprieve from immensely tense house sequences, horror movie fans will likely complain that the movie becomes quite disjointed as a result.

The spirit herself generates a huge element of mystery, you’ll never be quite sure who or what is stalking Kipps until the last moment of the film. The camerawork has been produced in some highly creative methods, showing her concealment out of the character’s viewpoint. Some of the many creepy moments include a ghostly rocking chair, a child screeching at Kipps through a peephole among many others. The setting itself enhances the ghostly presence; a deserted island that is constantly flooded by an eerie marsh which also gives the movie it’s light gross out factor about three quarters into the film. Radcliffe is joined by Ciaran Hinds playing Sam Daily, a rich landowner who has also lost his son and desperately attempts to remain positive towards Kipps despite the rest of the town deeply resenting the solicitor’s presence. His character is certainly given less emphasis throughout the film but succeeds to an extent in accompanying Kipps thanks to the struggles to control his possessed wife (played by Janet McTeer) and the hauntings of his long dead son Nicholas. On the other side of the spectrum there’s the fearful villagers who have lost many children some now being paranoid that their own children could be next to be taken by the spirit. The supporting cast provides some lighter horror elements during the town scenes though they never quite match the sheer uneasiness you’ll be watching in the house scenes. The movie is devoid of many elements of horror movies such as gore, foul language and sexual and the atmosphere is piled on even further because of it. This also gives way to many plot twists not seen in other movies of the genre, including a shocker of an ending that some could suggest lays to waste everything that Radcliffe and Hinds accomplish in the last half hour of the film.

In a movie age brimming with horror remakes and lack of originality ‘’The Woman in Black’’ adapts a classic novel and proves to be a worthy addition to the haunted house sub-genre, not to mention a worthy departure for Daniel Radcliffe. Don’t be fooled by the 12A certificate, this is a truly frightening horror movie that will greatly entertain some and invade the dreams of others for a while.

Rating 3.5/5 Stars