The Woman In Black

Subtle Ghost Story Scares

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Rated: R Thematic material and violence/disturbing images.
Release Date: February 3, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 35 min

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Director: James Watkins
Writers: Susan Hill (novel), Jane Goldman
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Sophie Stickey, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds

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SYNOPSIS: A young lawyer travels to the remote village of Crythin Gifford to deal with the closing of the estate of a reclusive deceased widow. Shunned by the villagers, he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the village's children.

REVIEW: Author Susan Hill wrote the thriller "The Woman in Black" in 1983 about a vengeful ghost that haunts the small English town of Crythin Gifford, appearing as a warning before the death of the town's children. Adapted in a still-running stage play and a TV movie in 1989, Eden Lake and The Descent: Part 2 director James Watkins conjures up the Susan Hill novel through a script by Jane Goldman, known for her collaborative writing efforts on Kick-Ass, The Debt, and X-Men: First Class.

Young widowed lawyer and father Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) travels to the remote town of Crythin Gifford to settle the estate of an old reclusive widow. Upon his arrival, he is rebuffed by both the town solicitor and the hotel owner. Parents scurry their children away and indoors as Kipps passes by. Only the wealthy Samuel Daily (Ciaran Hinds, The Debt) is unaffected by Kipps' arrival to the village, chalking up the others reaction to superstitious nonsense. Tasked with settling the estate and going through the extensive documentation of the widow Alice Drablow at her island-esque and secluded Eel Marsh House set in the middle of the boggy marsh and cut-out from the rest of the village with every high tide, Kipps starts to uncover strange documents and letters that provide clues to the elusive widow and her family that none of the villagers will disclose to him. After witnessing the death of a young girl at the constable's office, Kipps stays at the Eel Marsh House to continue his work, now distracted by strange noises, flitting shadows and forms, and unexplained visions. As he digs deeper into the paperwork, Kipps also digs deeper into the history of the house, its residents, and the evil that seems to surround the Eel Marsh House estate an the village of Crythin Gifford.

The Woman in Black is a ghost story, pure and simple. Situated in the cobwebbed and strangely decorated house, Arthur Kipps faces the bumps in the night and the strange happenings alone by using only his wits and his desperation to keep his solicitor's position by taking this assignment in the first place. The pale woman shrouded in mourning black and gauzy lace is little more than wisps caught out of the corner of the eyes. Dread mounts each time the Nine Lives Causeway and the surrounding marshes are covered by high tides. Some of the scares are obvious, some catch you off-guard. Director  Watkins uses classic sights, sounds and anticipation to maximize the scares, switching from Kipps view to an unearthly perspective with quick edits. London, the last eastbound train to Crythin Gifford, Crythin Gifford itself, the marsh, and the Eel Marsh House hide behind wispy ground fog, overgrown and unattended vines, and grey peeling paint to offer a dense, layered, foreboding environment.

The Woman in Black is a one-man show, or a one-man and one-woman show. Daniel Radcliife, trying to break out of his Harry Potter persona, has smartly diversified with stints on Broadway with 'Equus' and the more recent 'How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying', as well as this new big screen role. With the different period attire and hair, and a scrag of whiskers on his young face, Radcliffe does much to shed his humble wizarding beginnings. Unfortunately, the addition of the Hinds character Samuel Daily doesn't help matters when Radcliffe's Arthur calls him Sam - so close to Ron for some audible reason. All in all, Radcliffe works enough angst and magic (no pun intended) to deliver a strong first post-Harry performance.

The other characters in the film, Samuel Daily (Hinds) and his affected wife (Janet McTeer), and the rest of the suspicious and angry villagers, and all of the children who have died or whose parents fear for their lives, add a oily film of creepiness to the story. Part Children of the Corn, part Village of the Damned, the children and their guardians despise the mere fact that Arthur Kipps has come to town and insists on going to the Eel Marsh House. 

The Woman in Black does its best to unnerve, even as a more abstract ghost story thriller. No time is spent on gore or splattering scares. Radcliffe's film may not be as structured or complicated as Kidman's The Others, but it does its best to rattle you. In the climactic finale, even my horror genre jaded heart skipped a beat or two. Those who are looking for the cheap thrills or quick scares do not need to apply. For those looking for a subtle story of fear, vengeance and hatred in the form of a pale, wasted woman wrapped in black, The Woman in Black may fit the bill. 

POEMS: 

During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
But she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness, the Woman in Black.

Have you seen her? The woman in black?
She once lost her boy and now shes come back.
Our parents all worry they make such a fuss
For if she cant find him she'll take one of us.

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD

Poems of The Woman In Black

What Did They See?

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Rated: R   Thematic material and violence/disturbing images.
Release Date: February 3, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 35 min

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Director: James Watkins

Writers: Susan Hill (novel), Jane Goldman
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Sophie Stickey

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SYNOPSIS: A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.


REVIEW: Check out the full review of The Woman in Black!

POEMS:

During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
But she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness, the Woman in Black.

Have you seen her? The woman in black?
She once lost her boy and now shes come back.
Our parents all worry they make such a fuss
For if she cant find him she'll take one of us.

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CONTRIBUTOR POEMS:

Its the holiday season
And what did appear?
But a jolly old man
And 8 tiny reindeer.

He flew down the chimney
But never came back
he must of seen her
The Women in Black.

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She's cloaked in darkness
No smile in site
A deadly silence
That floats through the night

We all know her name
The one behind the attacks
An epithet that haunts us all
The one, the only, the Woman in Black.

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She floats through the air
As silent as night
No one can see her
No person in sight

She is the one
That starts the attacks
With eyes of darkness
The woman in black

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

End of a Wild Wizarding Ride

Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright

SYNOPSIS: Harry, Ronald and Hermione continue their quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, culminating in an epic battle between good and evil, and between He Who Should Not Be Named and The Boy Who Lived.

REVIEW: Ten years, eight films, seven books, five directors and one amazing author have brought us a literary phenomenon, a $6 billion plus movie franchise, and an epic story of three wizarding friends that changed the landscape of both print and cinema. Launching a dozen or more other children's novel film franchise hopefuls including The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the Harry Potter series remains at the top of the food chain. A generation of children and adults have grown to love the action, adventure and spell-binding charms of a boy with a lightning bolt scar and possibly the Chosen One against the darkest of the dark arts.

David Yates, director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, takes a treatment from J.K. Rowling's trusted adaptation scribe Steve Kloves (except Order of the Phoenix), and brings the road trip home in time for the ultimate battle between the forces of good and darkness.

Where Part 1 was a epic road trip, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a epic war film. An amalgam of Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan - and the culmination of the Potter films that preceded it - this Deathly Hallows is filled with vast slow-motion battles, a variety of creatures, good and evil wizards, and our trio of teenage "Year 7" heroes. Veiled in deep dark tones, and seeped with swirling dust and rubble, Part 2's gritty portrayal of the end of Hogswart's and the spellcasters that oppose Voldemort is both sad, despairing - with a glimmer of hope and perseverance. How can anyone stand up to the tide of darkness that He Who Should Not Be Named leads?

Remember how you felt when Luke finally faced Darth Vader in the third act of The Empire Strikes Back for their lightsaber battle? When Lord Vordemort and the Elder Wand faces off against Harry and the weapon he disarmed from Draco in Part 1, we bear witness to a magical duel we have never seen before and have been waiting for eight films. In a word, brilliant!

I need not explain the story to the readers and viewers since the majority of the planet have read the entire series of novels. That been said, the same fans who will cheer at Neville Longbottom and Professor McGonagall, avid fans will complain about some of the omissions from the source material or scene edits that seem to expect the moviegoer to know the background of the film they are watching. How does Hagrid end up at the end of ropes, captured by the Deatheaters? Some scenes are kept in because the readers would have been horrified if they were cut, but the loss and triumphs of the Weasley family during the final battles seemed more like background noise instead of center pieces.

Once the dust settled and the smoke clears you will be happy to be able to tell people you witnessed the end, but will be immediately sad that the franchise is over. All we can hope for is for Rowling to start writing or releasing the "lost" stories of Harry Potter and his friends, so we can renew our adventures in the magical and wizarding world of the Hogwart's universe.

WORTH: Friday Night Opening and BluRay

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Real World Magic

[Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes]

image from cbc.ca

RANT: Actually went to the theater on opening night for a change. What? Are you serious? Because the backlog of films to be watched in building, I actually had to try and get ahead of it if I could. Now I know why I go to the matinee. The theater was filled with 14 year old kids trying to save 5 extra seats for their friends, constantly calling and texting to see where their missing comrades were, constantly sending one or two out to see if anyone showed up to the box office. And even though they did not shut up during the previews (poor form), they actually sat quietly, or as quietly as 14 year olds can be throughout the film.

SYNOPSIS: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley race against time as they try to find and destroy the Horcruxes that contain pieces of Lord Voldemort soul, learning along the way that there exists a powerful trinity of magical items - the Deathly Hallows.

David Yates, the director of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" returns with part one of the last installment of J.K Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" with a screenplay by the film series scribe, Steve Kloves. This film focuses mostly on Harry, Ron and Hermione, playing out like a road trip movie. But there are other influences as well.

Inside the Ministry of Magic, as the hero trio attempt to find and recover the third Horcrux that contains a fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul, the scenery and pace is reminiscent of Orwell's "1984" or Lucas' "THX 1138". Big Brother is watching and the oppressed magical masses shuffle along, heads down and eyes averted, fearful of being singled out, buying into the ministry machine now spouting out muggle mudblood propaganda. Later, as Ron, Hermione and Harry, hide out in the wilderness trying to destroy the Horcrux in their possession, the visual style changes into something more raw and wild, the colors washing out into gray autumn and winter.

Remembering back to the first four films, I hearken back to a simpler, more naive mystical world of wonderment. But as we all grow up, so also is the magic stripping away and the harshness of reality seeping in. With the death of Dumbledore at the end of the "Half-Blood Prince", any glowing glamour of innocence is gone. These school kids have grown up and are meeting maturity as most children shouldn't be expected to. They face hard times with harsh decisions and difficult decisions.

Although some critics have panned this entry of the series as a teaser for part 2, I enjoyed the film. And, of course, this IS a teaser for the second half of "Deathly Hallows". But that's like saying that "LOTR" Fellowship of the Ring" was a teaser for the second and third installments of that franchise. There is a lot of story to be told in Harry Potter's final year, and at 2 hours 27 minutes for part 1, there is plenty to see.

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!