Film Review: The Woman in Black

Like last years Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Woman in Black is one of those films that the entire country seems to flock to see, even if they don't visit the cinema that often. While TTSS made no attempt to soften its story for the mainstream (hence the cries of boredom, and the record number of walkouts when I saw it), The Woman in Black is perfect for people not really used to going to see a horror film on the big screen.

Obviously, the man draw of the film is Daniel Radcliffe in his first major role after the conclusion of the Harry Potter films, but don't let the 12A certificate fool you (more on that later), this is a horror film, and not the faint of heart at times.

Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a young, recently widowed lawyer, who is dispatched to a sleepy village to settle the estate of a family steeped in tragedy. The ghost of a woman scorned by the family continues to haunt the village, and soon after his arrival, Arthur himself.

There's nothing especially wrong with The Woman in Black, it's well shot, well acted (after the first few minutes you forget about Radcliffe's iconic wizard role) and provides a good amount of tension and scares. But, if you're a fan of horror there is absolutely nothing here you haven't seen before.

Which is why people that don't regularly go to the cinema are getting so scared by it, if you don't normally go and watch a horror film, The Woman in Black is probably going to be the most frightening thing you will ever see, so in that respect the film works. Although, that was probably not its intention.

As the film was bound to be popular with a younger 'post-Potter' audience, 6 seconds were cut from the film so it could be certified a 12A rather than a 15 in this country, and while a bit of a fuss has been kicked up about whether it should have been a 12A, I think it would probably have had to have been one of the mildest 15 ratings in history. It is a bit much for a 12 year old kid, but the 15 rating would have probably been too high. Again, this is from a reviewer who has seen all the scares the film provided before, though.

Unsure what happened in the 6 missing seconds, but maybe we shall find out when it gets a Blu-Ray/DVD release, unless they really want to make a bit more out of it.

As a side note, it was nice to see a film bear the Hammer logo at the start. The company have been back a few years now, but this must be their biggest hit since returning. Hope they can bring more horror films to the mainstream, but hopefully ones that are slightly more original than this.

***

While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with The Woman in Black, horror fans would have seen it all before. But for a mainstream audience that don't visit the cinema much, it's full of jumps and scares.