Review of The Woman in Black (2012) by Guillermobm — 16 Jan 2015

The Woman in Black is an old-fashioned horror film with a well handled suspense. 82/100 [B+].

The Woman in Black is directed by James Watkins and it's a remake of the eponymous 1989 movie based on the book by Susan Hill. Moving on, the opening scene is strange and creepy, I liked it. Anyway, I have to admit that the first act was kinda slow and a little bit boring. Surprisingly, the second half is more violent, intense and suspenseful. Also, I liked the performances, Daniel Radcliffe performs a single dad called Arthur Kipps and another standout performances were from Ciarán Hinds and Janet McTeer. I also loved the old-fashioned style of the film, it has a splendid selection of period furniture and costume design.

The Woman in Black boasts an impressive level of terror, the atmosphere of the film is frightening and most of the scares were unpredictable. Also, the sound effects were terrific and so well done. It has no gore, but instead of that, it delivers so many effective scares, I almost died! There was enough originality on its surprises. Even though I have to admit that this horror movie is more of the same crap, I mean: the loud noises, things moving by itself and creepy shadows; still scary as hell! Yeah, it doesn't offer something new to the horror genre, but still terrifying. Also, the stunning camera work increases the dread at times.

I'm glad that Watkins decided to use practical effects instead of cheap CGI. The Woman in Black is a movie that does not look crappy or cheaply done. In spite of its modest budget, the production was splendid. Moving on, as I said above the film counts with a very creepy sound design, the loud noises are constant but they came at the right times and efficiently. I saw this film in the morning and it scared the crap out of me, my point here is that it doesn't matter if you see it during the day or at night, it will scare the hell out of you. Watkins proves that he is a talented director and I just hope to know more about him soon. What a horror flick!

On the upside: the ending was strangely awesome, the house is creepy as hell (the rooms and empty hallways add some spookiness to the film), it has excellent performances and the production design was great. On the downside: a few jump-scares were unnecessary and the first 30 minutes are boring as hell. So, in conclusion, I recommend it for horror fans and non-horror fans. Woman in Black is an audience pleaser and the perfect film to watch with some friends at night. Although it doesn't offer something fresh or new to the genre, it keeps the tension for most of the time and there's a very scary sequence at the first 50 minutes.