2012 Review #5: The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black

Rated PG-131 Hour 34 Minutes
Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe
MY GRADE:
B+

Whenever children are involved in this creepy spookfests movies, it tends to make it a bit scarier. At least for me it does. But the REALLY involve kids in the new movie The Woman in Black, and in a very disturbing way. The opening scene of the film shows three little girls playing, like little girls do, then suddenly the three of them approach a window, and jump out to their deaths. It sets a very dark and grim mood for the rest of the movie. This is not your typical, cliched haunted house flick.

This is what I call a classy ghost story. I haven't seen one like this since "The Others" back in 2001 with Nicole Kidman. The Woman in Black has a simple premise: A young lawyer is sent to collect paperwork for a recently deceased client at her home. Her home however, happens to be the largest, creepiest, manor in all the land and the towns people believe there is a curse on this house. When the young lawer, played by Daniel Radcliffer of Harry Potter fame arrives to investigate he learns that the town's children have been dying off. When he starts to investigate the house, children in town start drying in suicidal ways and the town begs him to leave and stop what he is doing at that house. He doesn't believe this at first, and he knows he has a job to get done. But then things go bump in the night in the house and one things leads to another, and he believes! Then we get that typical story of the main character looking into the past of the house to find out what's really going on and he digs to deep and gets to involved and things get personal.

OK so I won't go on about the story anymore. Just know it's not some complicated tale and yes, it derives from films we have seen before so it's not entriely original. The film though, is based off a play of the same name. We don't see anything to new with this movie, but it also isn't a copy of all other ghost movies. For instance, the vilolent nature this entity has towards children is a bit of a shocking twist for me. It adds a level of intensity that I haven't seen in a movie like this. It's also refreshing to have a horror movie that ISN'T filmed with a hand held camera. Of course, given that the film takes place well before the invention of HD cameras, it woulnd't make sense for that here. We get standard filming here though, but the creepy factor is JUST as effective, if not more. Was it scary as hell like some critics say? Well, not for me no. But what isn't scary for me, could be terrifying to others. Fact is, I see a lot of scary movies so I've become immune to jumps and spooks. It was unsettling though. The few scenes where he is walking through the house in utter silence did get a bit tense at times. They also held back on the computer effects, at least until the end, which I liked. I'm a fan of the saying "what you don't see is actually more frightening" because it's so very true.

I've heard a lot of talk about Daniel Radcliffe and people giving the director a hard time for choosing him to play the role of a lawer with a four year old son. The fact is, he's 22 years old, so it is possible for him to have a 4 year old. I think the issue people have is that he is fresh of the Harry Potter franchise where he played a teenager the entire time. The final Potter film JUST came out last summer so most movie goers can't get that out of their heads and accept that Radcliffe is going to have to do other movies now. This is his first major film release since he started doing the Potter movies back in 2001. For what it's worth, I think he did a good job leading the film. He doesn't have a ton of lines, it's more about his actions. Could a slightly older actor benefited the movie? Yeah, probably, but Radcliffe did just fine.

The movie is more about the story, and the environment, and that is why you should see the film. The whole movie has a sense of foreboding and this gloom lingers the entire time. The set design of the house was perfection. They created an atmosphere that gave off the right about of spooky without going to overboard. Movies that take place in this old timey estates in England are always so fun to watch. It makes me want to find a house like this and walk through it...but not sleep there...I'm not that crazy. Anway, I found The Woman in Black to be the almost perfect ghost movie of the year so far. The one drawback I had was that it was a tad to slow and moved a bit like molasses pouring out of a jar. Usually I'm OK with slow films, but this one seemed off in terms of pacing and I had a bit of a hard time getting into it all the way. Other than that though, this movie has a good, simple story and the creepy factor is up there. I thought The Innkeepers was maybe a better haunted house flick, but it wasn't to far off. I liked this movie as well.