A young lawyer's last chance at keeping his job leads him to a remote village with a haunted past. His duties lead to confrontations with a vengeful ghost
Now, if there was a top five list of Hollywood badasses mine
would probably go something like this; Chuck Norris, Liam Neeson, Jean-Claude
Van Damme, Sly Stallone and Arnie. I think many would agree that this is the safe
list (of course excluding actors from the orient who would probably make these
guys look like chumps in actual combat). So imagine my surprise when I very
nearly considered putting Harry Pott... *ahmmmm*... Daniel Radcliffe on that
list instead of one of these most macho of men.
A friend of mine warned me of the balls of steel that belong
to Radcliffe’s character Author Kipps but I had no idea he would be this
fearless. He could quite easily put the Terminator to shame! His stupidity just
can’t seem to be stopped. You’d think after seeing a strange lady in the garden
of the scariest looking abandoned mansion in the history of the universe would
deter him from his lawyer duties but no. Then you’d think the deaths of children
would put him off but again he returns. Maybe the plethora of creepy shit that
took place during a nights stay at the mansion (this is after his first trip)
would be enough but oh wait, he returns to this mansion. Madness. Absolute
madness. The same kind of thing goes on within the mansion. I can guarantee that
you couldn’t pay me a trillion pounds to go upstairs to investigate a
terrifying creaking and banging, especially after all the stuff Mr. Kipps saw
and experienced, but it was as if his steel testicles were drawn to some kind
of spooky magnet.
I suppose this could be both a criticism and something positive.
Positive in the sense that an infinite amount of different scares can be set
up, Radcliffe is always looking for trouble the entire film and there’s very
little rest bite. This is good for a horror film because, despite its lunatic
hero and whether you want to admit it or not, it does scare. There are so many opportunities
you don’t know where the next jump is going to come from. The Woman in Black
herself is a terrifying spectre, just waiting for her to show gives you
shivers. But now for the criticism. The horror value is taken away slightly as
the way Mr. Kipps goes about his business is almost laughable. Sure you’ll be laughing
behind a pillow, but laughing and questioning his motives none the less.
You also can’t rate the The Woman
in Black on its narrative either. It really is quite a straightforward
piece. I felt that the whole time they were leading up to some kind of twist,
particularly in it’s final act there was certainly enough build. If you’re
expecting something special here don’t, you’ll only be disappointed as this
film sticks to the obvious, showing no real initiative. I understand it’s based
on a book and you don’t want to deviate too far but if you’ve got the chance to
improve it why not take it? Personally I think they should have taken a page
out of Fragile’s book (2005).
Genuinely the scariest ghost film I’ve ever seen with the best/most frightening
twist ever.
Overview:
A fun film despite its simplicity. It’s full to the brim
with scares, copious amounts of fog and, probably unintentionally, comedy. Radcliffe
may one day enter my Hall of Fame of Badassery/Dumbassery... haven’t decided
which one is more appropriate yet. Certainly a good way for him to start
shaking off the Potter franchise (come on, you knew it was going to mentioned).
Rating:
★★★
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