The Woman in Black Review

For the first time in quite a while, not all the scares are given away in the trailer for The Woman in Black. But then again, that would be asking a lot of the film’s promoters because James Watkins’ The Woman in Black packs more jumps into its running time than any other horror film seen in a long time.

Set in an unspecified year in the Edwardian era, Daniel Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipp, a father (unconvincing as his son could easily pass for his brother) and widowed lawyer who attempts to prove his worth at his firm by travelling to the north of England to sort out the estate of the recently deceased Alice Drablow. Set on going through her belongings with a fine tooth comb, Kipp has to enter Eel Marsh House, a place the villagers don’t talk about, located in an isolated sandy patch that is locked away from the rest of the world when the tide comes in. Naturally, more than just financial documents are buried deep in the heart of the decaying mansion.

James Watkins is fast becoming a specialist in creating little pockets of Hell all around the country. In his first film, Eden Lake (2008), Watkins transformed an idyllic leafy patch of England into a stomping crowd for a group of demented chavs and in the process carved out one of the best British horror films of the decade. Now, he turns his hand to an old school haunted house horror film backed by iconic horror studio Hammer, a move that continues the studios return to backing British titles that began with Wakewood (2011) after backing the US titles Let Me In (2010) and The Resident (2011).

Echoing the chills of classics like Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963), The Woman in Black’s Eel Marsh House has to be the best Horrible House seen on screen since the Ulman house in Ti West’s House of the Devil (2009). Just like all haunted house movies, the dusty corridors and misty windows of the structures are the real stars of the film and despite the focus on Radcliffe’s first lead role since leaving Hogwarts, Eel Marsh House and the title character are the clear stars of the show. Watkins knows how to treat the woman of the title, initially only showing her in shadows and blurs, but unlike most recent ghost stories, The Woman in Black doesn’t drop the ball when she does appear in plain sight.

Just like the constantly terrifying forty minutes section of the play, Watkins’ version similarly makes Kipps’ first full night at Eel Marsh House, taking viewers on a ghost train consisting of one bone chilling moment after another and whilst it’s nothing groundbreaking (Creepy Toys ✓ Creepy Kids ✓ Suspicious Villagers ✓), Watkins is talented enough to make these slightly tired haunting cornerstones actually scary again. And make no mistake The Woman in Black is a scary, sometimes terrifying film.

When Watkins says Boo! you will jump and this formed a slight issue for me after a while. The Woman in Black is the ‘jumpiest’ film I’ve seen in the cinema in a long time, but after about an hours worth of loud noises and jump scares, you can’t help but find yourself getting used to the formula. The element that made the first 40 minutes of last years Insidious (2011) so good was its insistence on scaring us through a slow build up of horrible set pieces and it wouldn’t have hurt to have a similarly restrained approach. But again, this is a slight issue and the film packs plenty of slower paced, tension building set pieces into its running time and for all the loud noises it’s these sweat-inducing set ups that come back to you as you climb into bed.

It is worth mentioning that for all the scares, The Woman in Black is a lot of fun. You can’t help but smile through the fear when those old toys that you only ever see in horror films appear and the introduction of the ‘twins’ raised a much needed laugh. There is a moment at the end of the where it looks like Watkins is about to undo all his good work with a heavy dose of unneeded schmaltz but by leaving audiences with a final chilling image, The Woman In Black cements itself as a properly scary chiller that juggles fun and fear perfectly.

I suppose the only downside for Watkins is that thanks to Paranormal Activity 4 (currently without a release date), Ti West’s very good The Innkeepers (arriving in early June) and the chilling Livid (the latest offering from the makers of Inside (2007) currently without a release date), Watkins’ latest is gonna have some stiff competition for ‘Haunted House Film of the Year’ when, in any other year, it would be top of the tree.

In a year when people just aren’t buying houses, this year’s haunted house horror output looks set to continue that trend with or without the help of the economic crisis.