A Woman in Black: A Movie Review

By Stephanie Hunt

Directed by James Watkins and based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill, The Woman In Black is a great movie for those who enjoy a great classic-style horror film.  It immediately grabs your attention as it opens with a scene of three little girls having tea with their dolls. They look up at something, rise calmly, walk over to the window, and jump out to their death. This supernatural thriller keeps you glued to the screen until the very end.

Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Ratcliffe) is a young, struggling lawyer who travels to a remote seaside village in England to resolve the legal affairs of Eel Marsh, an estate whose owner has died. The mansion is very creepy. It is built in a marsh and only accessible during low tide.  Even more creepy than the old mansion is the alarming child mortality rate, and the mystery behind the ghost of the widow who is blamed for taking the lives of the village’s children.

Ratcliffe overall does well in his first big-screen role since Harry Potter, although his reactions to the strange happenings could have been a little more dramatized. Being the sole character in many scenes, he manages to keep and hold your attention very well. Although the sound effects were a tad overused, the visual effects were great. They definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to miss a thing. 

This film is filled with creepy, hair-raising scenes, but lacks the bloody gore you see in most modern horror flicks; I really liked that.  As for the ending (I don’t want to give it away), it was superb. It is a big twist that left me sitting there in disbelief for a moment.  I would definitely recommend this classically spooky thriller to anyone.