A ghost story, a true ghost story, should be suspenseful and leave the audience chilled. These days most people expect blood, gore and shock when they see anything that looks like horror story. “The Woman in Black” is not a horror story; it’s a ghost story.
It does have suspense, and there are chills. It does everything it is supposed to do; yet it doesn’t really work.
“The Woman in Black” is about a woman who hangs herself because she is distraught over the death, and inappropriate burial, of her son. She haunts the house and village she once lived in and if she appears to anyone, children in that town start to die.
Daniel Radcliffe, in his first film since the Harry Potter films ended, plays Arthur Kips. He’s a young lawyer licking the four-year-wounds of his departed wife, who died in childbirth.
His job is on the line unless he can settle and sell an estate in the nearby village where the woman in black resided.
On his way to the village he meets a Mr. Daily, played by Ciarán Hinds, who lives in the village and befriends him, which is good since he is not welcomed with open arms by anyone else. In fact he’s shunned and pretty much asked to leave.
Arthur, however, is determined and stubborn. He knows his job is on the line so he forges ahead to the estate to get his work done. It is there that he sees a mysterious vanishing woman in black and it is then that the children in the village start to die.
“The Woman in Black” does work as a ghost story. Director James Watkins, in his second directorial attempt does build suspense and doesn’t spare any expense making the estate, and its contents, look rich, creepy and haunted.
The problem is Daniel Radcliffe.
Yes, the camera loves him. Yes, he delivers his lines well, and plays the part of the lonely widower quite well, but he’s too far young for the part. He doesn’t have the maturity to play the lonely widower who has a four-year-old son.
The script paints a lovely, haunted and morose picture, but there’s barely any dialogue, and that requires an actor who can relay his fear, sadness and fright with out overacting. Radcliffe isn’t mature enough to pull that off.
The rest of the cast is fine, good in fact. They fill in the time when Radcliffe isn’t seeing things appear and disappear in the estate, but that’s not enough.
“The Woman is Black” is a good old-fashioned ghost story. All of the elements are there, the only thing missing is a more mature Radcliffe.
Does anyone have a Repario spell?