The Woman in Black

Ghost stories make for notoriously frustrating films and The Woman in Black is no exception. 

The problem that has befallen many films in this genre is that there are very few rules when you are dealing with the supernatural. Inevitably, this leads to a script littered with plot-holes. Take the Woman in Black. She is apparently an omnipresent, omnipotent poltergeist capable of dashing over to the next town to possess children and force them to commit suicide. Yet, a barking dog scares her away. And she has difficulty opening a locked door. And for some reason, she has no idea that her child's body is buried by the cross right outside her house. It is a tiresome, irritating, head-banging form of logic that muddies all big-screen ghost stories. There is a reason why there has yet to be a five-star ghost film.

As such, if you want to enjoy The Woman in Black, then you have to suspend the part of your brain that asks questions. Don't ask why Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) repeatedly returns to a haunted house so he can look through some paperwork. Don't ask why he believes dragging up the ghost's dead son will make her rejoice and leave them all in peace. Don't ask why he thinks an axe will protect him against a poltergeist who has already survived her own hanging. And certainly don't ask how Daniel Radcliffe is old enough to have a four year-old son.

So put all that aside and you might just enjoy this film. And, in fairness, there is a lot to enjoy.

The Woman in Black needed to match the creepiness of the renowned stage play and, on that score, it delivers.  Marsh Eel House is the definitive haunted house: dark, dusty, isolated and surrounded by fog. There are nooks and crannies where clues can be hidden and billowing black drapes where the Woman in Black can camouflage herself (you will find her lurking in the background of several shots if you look carefully). Meanwhile, the nursery is the stuff of nightmares, populated by unblinking porcelain dolls and jittery clockwork animals. You get the impression that the props department had a blast searching for the world's freakiest menagerie on eBay.

Naturally, there are the obligatory jump-out-of-your-seat moments and inevitably most of these are false alarms: crows and dogs and gushes of water. Plus, every glimpse of the Woman herself will have you cowering back into your seat.

But the success of these scares is down to the sense of unease which director James Watkins has established throughout the film. Even away from Eel Marsh House, Arthur Kipps has to deal with crackpot grieving mothers and little girls spewing blood and villagers straight out of Royston Vasey. And fair play to James Watkins. He has substituted the violence and 18-rating of his debut, Eden Lake, for a more subtle, classical horror approach which is all the more unsettling. And he does this with a 12A-rating. Take that Saw and Hostel.

Of course, the big talking point around this film is Daniel Radcliffe taking his first brave step towards shredding any future boy wizard type-casting. The age is off-putting at first but only for a second. Radcliffe is confident in front of the camera and delivers an unexpected Arthur Kipps: grim, determined and haunted by his dead wife (the Woman in White, if you will) and that is before he even leaves London. This is very different to the book but Jane Goldman's changes to the novel work well, especially with Radcliffe as the lead.

Unfortunately, Goldman's script makes very little impact elsewhere. There is no memorable dialogue or unexpected plot-points or bold character-development. Plus, the resolution is a cheap conveniently-'happy' ending. But the novel was always very simple in the first place. And big-screen ghost stories will always be more about the ghost and less about the story. 

In short, The Woman in Black serves a purpose. It is mainstream throwaway entertainment, designed to sell tickets and give you the chills, thrills and popcorn spills that the trailer promised. But you're unlikely to watch it again.

The search for a five-star ghost film continues.

★★★