The Woman in Black

February 13, 2012 | ONLINE ONLY


Release: 10th February 2012
Director: James Watkins
Rating: ****

The latest from newly-rejuvenated Hammer Horror comes The Woman In Black, based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill (and later a smash-hit stage adaptation). The story follows the young, recently-widowed Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a solicitor sent to sort through the property of a deceased client, which happens to be hidden away in the very isolated, very haunted Eel Marsh House.

If it doesn’t sound all that original, it isn’t. There is certainly something very familiar about the elements at play, but strangely enough, it isn’t really a problem. Director James Watkins doesn’t really alter ghost story conventions; instead, he uses them to full effect, an approach that proves to be both endearing and effective. Perhaps fitting given Hammer’s own legacy, The Woman In Black is very much a product of its cinematic past, yet feels fresh and contemporary enough not to seem like a rehash of what has gone before.

Efficiency is the name of the game; everything has its purpose and nothing is overdone. The primary objective here is to scare the living hell out of an audience, and on that count it must be applauded. A gothic Victorian setting helps to build an inescapable mood of dread; an ever-creaking rocking chair; a nursery filled with musical clockwork toys; a fog that never quite clears. This slow build up of tension very quickly turns into a shock-fest, climaxing in a twenty minute period during which the film really hits its stride – a series of huge jumps sent the row in front of me launching into the air, and at times it was all too tempting to run away and hide in the foyer.

Admittedly, the resolution is a little too easy to be completely satisfying, and an attempt at ambiguity robs the novel of its bleak, but ultimately more affecting ending. Perhaps the problem is a lack of sympathy, for which responsibility must fall, to an extent, upon the star. Daniel Radcliffe is solid, but no better than in his final days of Potter. There are flickers of excellence, but it feels like for every step forward, there is another backwards. This is a shame considering that the part could easily have been a star-making role for someone else.

Where The Woman In Black really triumphs is in atmosphere. Perhaps best comparable with The Others (and the 2009 BBC adaptation of The Turn Of The Screw), every frame is filled with darkness or fog, often both. Accompanied by Marco Beltrami’s simple but haunting score, the visuals gain an oppressive quality that make for an intense experience, and the inevitable third act return of daylight earned an audible sigh of relief from my screening.

While it feels like a film from a bygone age, The Woman In Black is anything but faded, injecting class and energy into a genre that has recently become a tad tacky. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Watkins merely reminds us why we liked it so much in the first place.

2 responses below. Comments are open.

  1. Tim says:
    February 14, 2012 at 1:04 am

    Well I thought Radcliffe was clear-eyed and plausibly grown up as Arthur Kipps – much more so than in his Potter performances.

  2. Georgia says:
    February 15, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    I thought Daniel Radcliffe played an excellent performance as Arthur.

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