For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - The Woman In Black
The Impression:
Mr. Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe’s first foray in to the
world of non-Hogwart’s related cinema. It’s produced the
rekindled Hammer films and the trailers impress a haunted
house story set in the countryside of Victorian Britain. All
of these things sound good to me. But I warn you, it is
February and there’s a reason studios torpedo films in to
the murky water of these godforsaken winter months.
The Reality:
For most of its running time, The Woman In Black is a
creepy, well-shot haunted house flick that never tries to be
anything else. Daniel Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps a
widower, and failing lawyer sent to the barren, coastal
marshes of Britain to help put to rest the paperwork of a
deceased client. The town attempts to expel him at all cost,
the house is daunting mess of spookiness, and then there’s
the whole thing about children mysteriously dying at the
hands of the titular Woman In Black - this movie genuinely
scared me. There was a moment near the end, a sustained
moment of fright you might call it, where my body shook in a
way that it has never done before. Not like I was going to
wet myself out of fear or have a heart attack, just a long
drawn out shudder caused by a frightful revulsion of which
I’ve never felt. The film stumbles narrative-wise two-thirds
of the way through and I thought it would derail the film
for me, but it recovers and its impressively morose and
creepy imagery kept me tied to my seat. For those looking to
lambaste Radcliffe for his lack of thespian ability, leave
your coat at the door, Radcliffe handles himself admirably,
perhaps not fully shaking himself clean of the lingering
Potter impression, but nonetheless imbuing his character
with a convincing sense of desperate dread.
The Lesson:
The Woman In Black has me curious as to what both Mr.
Radcliffe (I think it’s time to drop the Potter nicknames,
there will actually never be another one again) and Hammer
Films are planning next.
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