The Woman in Black

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Roger Allam, Lucy May Barker and Ciaran Hinds

Director: James Watkins

Release Date: 2012

Genre: Horror

Running Time: 1hr 31 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Format: DVD

Synopsis:

A young solicitor (Daniel Radcliffe) travels to a remote village, to Eel Marsh house, where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman who is terrorizing the locals.

I was first introduced to "The Woman in Black" whilst I was studying at College. I'd never even heard of it, until my teacher mentioned it and raved about how amazing it was live on stage. I can remember walking out of our local theatre feeling inspired and terrified at the same time. Quite the combination. When I found there was a film adaption coming out, I knew I had to get my hands on it. On first impressions it's obviously very different to watching something on stage, because it's been adapted for stage, however I was still thoroughly impressed. Another pleasant surprise was to hear that Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter stardom had been cast as the main character Arthur Kipps. Playing someone beyond your years is no easy task, however I think Radcliffe did exceptionally well considering the material he was given. Just like the stage performance, this film relies on very little performers with Radcliffe being the only actor in shot the majority of the film.

I like that Watkins has added a few new bits to the film adaption, although it takes away the mystery of the stage version, it also builds up a lot of suspense, that's not to say that the stage version doesn't build suspense because it very much does. It'd be very interesting to compare the novel to the stage and film adaption too. In essence Watkins has managed to bring a very good horror story to life, this movie is absolutely terrifying. Watkins has relied on jump scares a little bit, which for some viewers can be a little bit predictable, however I think he found the great combination of jump scares and clever lighting and sound to really build the suspense. There are plenty of twists and turns through out the film that will take you by surprise. There are some truly chilling scenes that may be difficult for some viewers.

Director of photography Tim Maurice-Jones has done a very nice job at adapting the novel to screen. Watkins has chosen to use a lot of close ups of Radcliffe to build suspense, as he zooms in on Radcliffe, you'll hear something in the background, immediately Watkins offers a jump scare in return, how many times have you heard a noise in a horror movie, it's made you jump, only to find that there is nothing there, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't always work in this movie. Watkins has chosen on numerous occasions to create suspense through the use of shadow, the best part about this movie is you rarely see the woman in black, most of the fear that comes out of her is through the clever use of ghostly shadows.

Set in the early 1900's, the production department have done a fantastic job in creating a very authentic looking set, the house that Arthur stays in through out most of the film, looks gorgeous from top to bottom, the children's bedrooms with Victorian toys, the graveyard outside, and a mysterious horse and cart from a very chilling scene, but let's come back to that later. It's clear a lot of detail went into making this movie look as authentic as possible, to be quite fair, something a stage performance can't always deliver due to the space that they have to work with, probably the only thing in the movie that is so much better then the original stage performance.

This is a really nice looking movie, it probably could have been done a little bit better, I'm not always sure that Radcliffe was the right person in mind, mainly due to his young age. The relationship between Kipps and his little boy isn't always convincing, however it's good none the less. Don't expect too much from it.  Chances are if you were a fan of the stage performance and the novel, your going to enjoy this. As I mentioned before it can be very difficult to transform something from stage to screen, some audiences may not like this, others may find they like that Watkins has chosen to add bits. I'm a cross between the two, either way it's entertaining and thrilling.

4/5 stars