The Woman in Black (2012)

Title: The Woman in Black

Release Date: February 3rd, 2012

Director: James Watkins

Writer: Susan Hill (book), Jane Goldman (screenplay)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer

Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller

                      This is the first movie review that I'm doing where I've seen the movie in theaters. To be completely honest, I would definitely need to see it a second time, with less distractions, to really get the full effect. But maybe I will later and I'll add an edit. 

        

                     Okay, so this movie was okay. It wasn't as bad as everyone was complaining about, but it wasn't like, horror movie of the year. Things I liked? I was pleasantly surprised by Radcliffe's transition from Harry Potter. I mean I still spent most the movie making Harry Potter references, but still, it was a good choice for him to start the jump with a period piece that is nothing like the Potter movies. His acting was a bit dull, like at times when he should be visibly terrified, it kind of looked like he was bored? But he definitely dove into the role and took risks that made up for his lack of facial emotions. I also loved the setting. They had this incredible stone house that sat on this island surrounded by marshes, and could only be reached between tide rising. I feel like that was something audiences had never seen and really added dimension to it. 

                    Now, what really killed me (in a bad way), was that they had these insanely great lead ups with like violin music getting louder, and tension rising and then BAM! Nothing happened. The movie had no sense of timing. I kind of liked seeing it in theaters only because you could feel everyone full of that tension, waiting, waiting, then like "oh, uhh, okay?" and it was so anti-climatic it ruined it for me. I also feel that there were unnecessary scenes that were just tossed in to add more of a scare factor. Like "Oh we've gone 10 minutes without of scare, lets throw a screaming dead kid in there." The whole thing felt a little too overdone. I kept feeling this was a run on from like, Insidious or Sixth Sense or something, the whole lady in the back round of every photograph thing.  The whole thing felt pretty flat, like I was watching the same scene over and over again. 

               The acting was good, and I liked the casting and the whole "Wicker Man" type feel, I just felt this would have been wayyyyy better if they had focused more on plot instead of badly timed cheap-thrills. I mean if you enjoy horror, this is definitely worth a watch, it's got a good story line and great writing, it just felt a little unfinished.

I give this a 5 out of 10 stars.