The Woman in Black
Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a young lawyer and recently widowed father is tasked with tidying up and legal affairs and selling the estate of a wealthy family in a remote English village. Upon his arrival, leery townsfolk seem eager to usher Kipps out of town as quickly as possible. Faced with the prospect of losing his job, Kipps insists on completing the task he was assigned; but not if a vengeful spirit has anything to say about the matter. Now caught in the middle of a supernatural family drama Kipps must do what he thinks is right to appease the spirit and hopefully spare the lives of children in the village, but is it already too late?
So horror in January, could be a hit, could be a miss. Here’s a general observation about horror, in order for it to really be effective, you kind of have to believe in what you’re seeing, i.e. to be scared by a ghost story, first you have to believe in ghosts, right? Well, here’s a perfect example of that. If ghosts aren’t your thing, this pseudo-psychological thriller/whodunit will probably just ring a little stale. Then again, maybe it’s that the script feels like a direct rip off and mix of El Orfanato and Ringu, and no matter what you believe in creativity is still key. Shure you’ll get a few mild scares here and there, but let’s just say this isn’t the darkest of dark rides. Set design, costuming, and production value all feel and look good, but sadly it really does come down to a flat storyline. Bummer. Maybe a rental later. The Woman in Black is rated PG-13.