Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Woman in Black (2012)

(Very mild spoilers ahead.)

IMDb plot summary: A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
Directed by James Watkins. Stars Daniel Radcliffe and Ciaran Hinds.


As a horror movie, this one is perfectly serviceable, with plenty of creepy atmosphere and acceptably scary moments. Daniel Radcliffe is not a terribly interesting protagonist, but he is at least believable, which is often surprisingly difficult to find in horror movies. The place where this movie really steps beyond generic is in its ending, which, out of nowhere, goes a completely different direction than I thought it would. At first I wasn't sure at all that I liked it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, even if it was a sudden transition, at least I'd *remember* this movie now. That ending moved this movie from a 2.5 to 3 stars.

Best Part: The ending.
Worst Part: How, out of nowhere, the main guy just knows what to do to reunite the mother and son. Are ghost reuniting rituals common knowledge in this time period?
Flickchart: #858, below Martian Child and above Single White Female.

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