The Woman in Black

One of this year's most successful horror movies; its success put Hammer Film Productions back on the map.

The story is set in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, shortly after the death of Queen Victoria (1901) and the end of the so-called Victorian era. Daniel Radcliffe (Mr. Potter himself) is a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, and also the widowed father of a four-year-old son; in spite of his grief over his deceased wife, he's sent north by his employer to collect the papers necessary for the sale of a large manor, called Eel Marsh House. He isn't exactly welcomed by the townspeople, who all want him to go back to London asap. However, on the train from London, he has made friends with Sam Daily, a local landowner. Daily lives alone with his wife Elizabeth, who has lost her mind after the accidental death of their son. Kipps soon learns that several children have died a horrible death in the recent past, and that the townspeople are alle scared of a woman dressed in black who seems to haunt the surroundings ...

The early scenes with the hostile townspeople may give you the idea the glory days of the Hammer House of Horror are back, but the movie never lives up to the expectations. Daniel Radcliffe is part of the problem. He could have been a good assistant to Peter Cushing in one of those Hammer classics (had he been born forty years earlier), but he's asked to take Cushing's place. All the time you expect the story to pick up at some point, but it never really does. There are a few scares, but no real shocks and the script is a bit too intricate for its own good; it takes some time before you understand what it's all about, and once you do, you'll notice that's it no more than a contrived and predictable horror story about a curse.

But, as said, the film was well-received and popular among audiences, so I'm defending a minority standpoint here.

Aanraders in overeenkomstige genres, volgens Boobytrap:
- Halloween (horror : 8)
- Jaws (horror / fantasy : 7.5)
- Black Christmas (1974) (horror : 7.5)
- When a Stranger Calls (horror / thriller : 7.5)
- Sisters (horror / thriller : 7.5)

Hoe beoordeelt Boobytrap categorie horror eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10