INSIDE A HOUSE THAT IS HAUNTED: a review of "The Woman In Black"

“THE WOMAN IN BLACK”

Based upon the novel by Susan Hill

Screenplay Written by Jane Goldman

Directed by James Watkins

** (two stars)

Dear readers, I would like for you to gaze at the above photo for a few moments. As you gaze, I would like for you to then, mentally add in some quietly ominous music and a few booming sound effects designed to make you shiver and jolt upright. And voila! You have essentially seen this entire movie!

Now, I certainly did not mean to sound so harsh. That opening was merely a bit of fun from me to you but I can understand that based upon that above paragraph and description, you would think that Director James Watkins’ “The Woman In Black” would easily end up on my 2012 Worst Of The Year List. Well…truth be told, the film really isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s not a bad film at all. It’s just one that really did not leave much of an impression upon me in any way, and that was despite the obvious skill, artistry and most of all, restraint that was on display throughout. “The Woman In Black” is an old-fashioned horror film, the kind that is meant to elicit chills up and down the spine and not created to bludgeon the audience with unspeakable depravity and over the top violence. While that is admirable, and at times quite enjoyable, it was also a film that unfortunately did not stick to the cinematic ribs by any means.

Set during the Edwardian period, Daniel Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer and widower consumed in the deep throes of grief after his wife died while giving birth to his son Joseph, now aged 4. With his mournful distractions now placing his career on the line, Arthur is dispatched to a small remote town set just outside of London to obtain and compile all of the paperwork from a recently deceased eccentric in order to sell her large manor known as Eel Marsh House. Yet, tragically strange occurrences have enveloped the town and all of the residents are mum to any of its dreadful secrets and more than a little wary of this new visitor except for the kindly Sam Daily (a strong Ciaran Hinds) who quickly befriends Arthur.

While Arthur spend copious amounts of solitude at the Eel Marsh House, he soon discovers that the mansion is haunted by the tormented spirit of a woman still desperate to reclaim what was once lost…and to forever wreak her vengeance upon the town

As an old-fashioned gothic thriller, “The Woman in Black” is a handsome production. It is an elegant film that is well guided and orchestrated under Watkins’ rock steady directorial hand. The film does accomplish an impressive job of evoking a tense, grim atmosphere and it provides more than its share of “Don’t open that door!,” “Don’t go up the stairs!,” and “Don’t go into that room!” moments. Much praise should be delivered to Cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones, as well as the members of Watkins’ set design and most notably, the sound effects team, for successfully enveloping the audience in a cloud of encroaching doom.

I found it to be a very classy move that “The Woman In Black” operates and relies mostly upon a slow burn rather than falling back on gratuitous gore, of which there is none in this film. Watkins remains ever tactful and tasteful, especially when confronting the issue of having the lives of various children in jeopardy, typically a cheap and mean spirited cinematic trick. Although, the film possesses these fine qualities, they do, however, work against the film’s overall impact.

Dear readers, you all know so very well about me that my relationship with horror films in general is an extremely tentative one at best and that I tend to give that genre an enormously wide berth as I just do not enjoy the sensation of being frightened. All of that being said, and I am certain that you will be mighty surprised by the following statement, but for me, “The Woman In Black” is just not that scary! While I have to say that I did jump up from my seated position several times throughout the film, I do think that it had much, much less to do with actually being trapped in a state of fear and dread and much more to do with the effectiveness of that aforementioned sound design team. While I loved how Watkins utilized the sounds of silence throughout the film, it seemed to exist just to have loud sounds jolt and shock you and when attempting to create horror, technical effects just aren’t enough for me.

Beyond any technical issues, and while the film overall does contain a certain level of suspense and functions well as a decent ghost story, I just had this nagging feeling that “The Woman In Black” was all much ado about nothing. This feeling really became enhanced for me by a hokum ending that for me, deflated the proceedings when I would gather, the suspense and terror needed to rise to a fever pitch. In this way, “The Woman In Black” reminded me very much of my reaction to Director Alejandro Amenabar’s “The Others” (2001), another atmospheric, gothic, disturbingly psychological, visually arresting yet decidedly underwhelming thriller. Watkins definitely has storytelling skill and visual panache but somehow, someway, the film never delved underneath my skin or burrowed deep into my psyche to make me really feel unhinged or at least troubled. Everything in the film seemed to sit very attractively on the screen yet it all felt to be superficial as I just did not have much of an emotional response.

From an acting standpoint, all of the performances are right on point and work in complete conjunction with the darkly spectral surroundings. I really liked seeing character actor Ciaran Hinds as he always elicits strong performances and his scenes with Daniel Radcliffe showed that the two men make for a strong acting team. But of course, there is the work of Mr. Radcliffe to speak of, which also contains some pluses and minuses.

In his first, post “Harry Potter” film role Daniel Radcliffe performs a worthy job, although most of his role has him exist in an often wordless and mostly reactionary position. On the positive side, Radcliffe is showing a newfound sense of maturity on-screen. He is able to easily convince that he is of a certain time period and his ability to seem authentic is good. Additionally, as Radcliffe is often alone during lengthy stretches of “The Woman In Black,” it is commendable that he has shown the growth to be able to hold the screen and our full attention regardless of the supernatural suspense occurring around him. His growing skill as an actor is always a pleasure to watch and makes me anxious to see what else he just may be able to pull off.

The downside is really not Radcliffe’s fault at all. Perhaps his casting in this particular film was somewhat of a canny Hollywood move as the supernatural elements of the story do happen to cross paths with the supernatural elements of the “Harry Potter” series, therefore creating an easy bridge for potential audiences to cross in regards to accepting Radcliffe in a new role. But, that did present some minor problems here and there. As Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps creeps through a dark, shivering, foreboding haunted house seeking answers to the truth of the titular “woman in black,” there were several points when I could not help but to think that he just might utter an ”Accio Wand!” or “Lumos!” for old time’s sakes. That close character/conceptual proximity did make for a distraction that, at times, took me out of the story. Beyond that, there really is not much within the character of Arthur Kipps that I found to be truly compelling, which unfortunately gave Radcliffe not much else to do other than creep around the dark, shivering, foreboding haunted house and again, react to whatever the special effects and sound effects team hurl at him. It’s a role that I felt to be quite underwritten as well as a little bland, which makes for a performance that is kind of empty as there is no real sufficient weight to latch onto.

Before I put this review into the hopper dear readers, I have to ask if any of you remember an old comedy routine by Eddie Murphy pertaining to the role of African Americans in the horror film genre and essentially how no films of that sort would exist with Black people on the leads. Why not? Well, Murphy reasoned, after a Black family entered and adored their new, wonderfully luxurious home and then heard the very first disembodied howl of “GET OUT!!,” any sensible Black person would simply say, “Too bad we can’t stay!” Thus, the movie would be over instantly. I shared that memory with you because I actually thought of that very routine as I watched “The Woman In Black.” Not as a way to denigrate or poke holes through the experience but to illustrate that despite its flaws, the film does have its share of suspenseful sequences that are fun to wade through.

But if you are looking for horror, and I mean true, debilitating horror, this film is just not quite up for the job.