Halloween Horrorfest: The Woman in Black

I'm such a sucker for a good gothic flavored ghost story. With a creepy, isolated old house and an intriguing story as well as a helluva creepy ghost, The Woman in Black filled that bill quite nicely for me. With a respectable post-Potter role for Daniel Radcliffe and tension to spare, this little flick turned out to be a superior spook story.

Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe) is a young, widowed lawyer struggling to make ends meet for him and his son, Joseph (played by Misha Handley). He begrudgingly accepts a job to help resolve the estate Alice Drablow and arrange for the sale of her home, the Eel Marsh house, located in the village of Crythin Gifford. He places his son in the care of his nanny and leaves London for the secluded village. Upon arrival, he gets a cold reception from the townsfolk who try to get him to leave. He finds assistance with local wealthy landowner Samuel Daily (played by Ciaran Hinds) and his wife Elisabeth (played by Janet McTeer), who give him a place to stay. While going through the various papers and effects of the Eel Marsh house, Arthur starts hearing weird noises, seeing strange things and finally seeing the appearance of the Woman in Black herself. Arthur begins to research the history of Eel Marsh house and discovers that most of the couples in the village have had children that have died at young age in seemingly tragic accidents, but are connected to the ghost. Arthur finds himself in the middle of a mystery and works with Sam to try and resolve it and hopefully find peace for The Woman in Black before any one else is taken, especially Arthur's son, who is on his way to visit with his nanny.  

This film is a throwback to the old school gothic horror films they really don't make any more. It's fitting that it's produced by Hammer films, who specialized in this genre. Director James Watkins manages to create a genuinely creepy atmosphere throughout the film that adds to the film. Granted, there is nothing particularly groundbreaking about the film, but still finds it's niche within the realm of haunted house stories. It plays with the audience's expectations adding to the tension as the viewers find themselves perpetually on there toes wondering where the ghost is going to show up. It makes for some quite tense moments. Daniel Radcliffe carries large sections of the film solo and manages to do so quite well. This was his first big post-Harry Potter film role and already you can see him starting to shrug off his previous role of the boy who lived. Ciaran Hinds does well as Arthur's unlikely ally, who remains skeptical about the ghost stories about The Woman in Black and Eel Marsh house despite having lost his own son. 

Overall, The Woman in Black is a creepy and at times tense throwback to the old-school gothic haunted house films. It manages to find it's own niche in that well worn genre and come up with a few new ways of making the audience scream, which I certainly did.