British - The Woman In Black

The Woman in Black is the story of young solicitor Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) who is sent to clear up the affairs of a recently deceased woman who lived in a remote house in the marshes. When he arrives he finds that the house holds something far more frightening than paperwork that will turn his life upside-down.

Directed by James Watkins the Woman in Black is not a particularly faithful interpretation of the book, at least not in terms of the way things pan out in the story. Certain things have been changed throughout the course of the story though the core elements that made the story so chilling originally are still intact, such as the fog with a mind of its own and the most disturbing rocking chair ever to be written about. However absolute dedication to following the original is not always necessary (hence this is a filmic adaption) as long as it works well on screen and stays true to the core elements of the original story, and this is something that the film does very well.

When I first heard that the Woman in Black was being made in to a film I was very excited. Ever since I first saw it at the theatre it has been one of those stories that have resonated with me for a long while, so I awaited the trailer with anticipation. When I first heard that Daniel Radcliffe had been cast as the lead I was met with a feeling of trepidation at how good this film would be, considering my view that I find him to be quite a wooden actor and struggled with liking his acting throughout all 8 Harry Potter films. But my love of the Harry Potter books and the amazing quality of the films overall won me over, but there was always that feeling for me that Daniel was not quite right. I also had the feeling that the lead character, having played such a defining part as Harry Potter, could serve to detract from the film overall.

When I first sat down my feelings were confirmed as for the first half of the film I could not escape the fact that I was watching Harry Potter on screen and when he shouted out the character name ‘Keckwick’, it sounded an awful lot like he was calling out for his faithful owl companion, which was quite unfortunate. There was also the problem that the designer stubble and long sideburns given to Arthur Kipps did not detract from the fact that he was at least 10 years younger than any of his peers in the town.

However the halfway point was around the time that the quality of the film won me over and I found myself becoming totally absorbed in the film, totally forgetting it was Harry Potter on screen and I started to believe him for the character he was playing and I would argue that this is Radcliffe’s best acting performance to date.

It was also around this time that the film really started to build up suspense and you could feel it growing within the audience as you could see people tense up in anticipation of scenes where they would be jumping out of the seats. This is something that I feel the film did immensely well. It is very rare that I find myself physically jumping in a film and throughout the course of this film I jumped on numerous occasions. Moments, such as the scene where Kipps puts his hand to the window to be met with a girl’s face emitting a shrill scream or the scene where the fabled rocking chair was introduced to us truly made me jump and gave me shivers down my spine for a good time afterwards.

The presentation of the film also, I believe, was stunning, the long winding road to the marsh where the house was and the house itself, really helped to build on the story and the tension overall. Aspects such as the long dark corridors and gates engulfed in vines helped to create an atmosphere that was truly chilling.

I think that this film really is a very successful adaption of a classic ghost story, and once you get past the inescapable fact that it is Harry Potter on screen it is an intensely engaging and truly scary film. I would recommend this film to anybody who enjoys the excitement of having a film scare you or loves going to watch a good horror film, as this is a film that will have you staring over your shoulder for a long time afterwards.