Review No.24: The Woman in Black

Though I sort of knew it was half term it didn't strike me till I got to my local multiplex and saw the hordes of families and unescorted teens littering the entrance way. I did think though that they'd be going to see something more family appropriate and not my choice of the creepy chiller The Woman in Black. How wrong I was it seems that a lot of families and teens had decided to see this purely because it had Harry Potter in it while in fact this film only made the 12A certificate after the distributors agreed to cut down some scenes and the BBFC then dropped their original 15 rating presumably so more money could be made. The film itself sees Radcliffe play Arthur Kipps a widower with a four year old son who is tasked with handling the final affairs of Alice Drablow including dealing with the property of Eel Marsh House. When Kipps travels to the small town where the house is located he gets a frosty reception from the locals who try to get him to leave a soon as possible but its not until he spends the night at Eel Marsh House that he finds out why.

Any more than that I fear would spoil the story but what spoilt it for me more was the constant interruption from the young audience whether it be light pollution emanating from their mobile phones or the slurping of drinks and crunching of popcorn. I do think that the BBFC should've kept the rating at a 15 not because of anything gory, kids today are desensitised to a lot of graphic images, but because this film relies on moments of silence and character development in order to get its thrills however the young generation has no patience and got bored very easily. As for the film itself it was an enjoyable low-key chiller which really benefited from its small town setting casting Kipps as the outsider and the townsfolk as a judgmental bunch. In the lead Radcliffe is better than I expected but I feel he was miscast as a widower of four years as despite a small bit of stubble he still looks very young though on the positive side I never felt like I was watching that kid who played Harry Potter. There is also a nice little performance from Janet McTeer as a mother who lost her son but has never got over it and this fits in with the rest of the story. Talking of the story Jane Goldman, wife of Jonathan Ross and scribe of Stardust, does a good job with the script making us wait for those jumpy moments however I never really found myself scared the gathered masses in the cinema did so possibly the only plus point of the whole cinema experience was gauging a response from this young audience. However though I really never got into the film which wasn't a fault of those on and behind camera but rather of those sitting in the general vicinity of my cinema seat.

Verdict: For the film a solid 7 out of 10 for an old-school horror film but 0.5 for the cinema-going experience as a whole.