If The Twilight Zone and Masterpiece Theater were real human beings and they ever met on the street, they would fall in love and get married. The product of this ‘marriage’ would be The Woman In Black.
The first intelligent horror film in a while and the only good CBS productions film soon far, The Woman in Black embraces the tradition of its Victorian era processors successfully. Though not completely faithful to Susan Hill’s 1983 novel, it is based on it and the play version that followed. The film expertly evokes the Victorian fascination with the dirty, dead, and damaged body. Daniel Radcliffe is constantly splattered with mud, feces, dust, and ash throughout the film’s 95 minutes. The concept of having some force so evil and perverse covering both body and soul really helps to sell the idea that an undead woman can reek revenge on an entire village. What further makes the corruption and soiling of the soul worse is the film’s continual use of confining rooms and towns to lock the viewer in with Radcliffe and the Ghost.
Radcliffe performs surprisingly well. While he begins very stiff, he throws himself into the role quiet seamlessly that the viewer becomes engrossed in his desperate attempts.
However, the movie does have problems. I, for one, felt the pacing moved too fast and didn’t let the viewer savor the mystery or the atmosphere long enough. I truly enjoy horror films when I am able to try to undercover the mystery myself and I am left guessing at the end of the film. The Woman in Black let me do neither. My other issue with the film is its lack of living, talking, and active female characters. The only living and active woman (not in black or white) is more or less a vessel for her dead son to leave clues for Radcliffe. A bit disappointing for a film called The Woman in Black.
Despite its lack of a substantial mystery and its very odd ending, The Woman in Black gives off a fantastic spooky vibe for these cold February nights.
PS: No Harry Potter references—Win!
image via film filia