The Woman in Black - Review

As someone who loves horror films I'm quite hard to impress when it comes to the horror genre.  There are so many bad horror films on the market - some which I actually love and some where I'm thinking 'is this actually happening'?  With the Woman in Black I was unsure which category it was going to fall into after hearing mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it and now want to read the book that the film was based on by Susan Hill.


The first thing that is striking about the film is seeing the main star Daniel Radcliffe playing a character that isn't Harry Potter and playing the part of an a Dad.  For a change the character he is playing is older than his real age and to start with this did not work for me - it was just too unrealistic but as the film went on he began to mould to the character more.  I think it will be a while before Radcliffe will be able to shake off being Harry Potter completely though.

The film is a 12a but as far as scary imagery goes it should probably be a 15 but due to there not being a lot of violence or sex it obviously doesn't fit this certificate. It is a 'jumpy' horror which most people get kicks out of and for this reason it is probably going to be a hit amongst the masses rather than the hardcore horror fans.

When it comes to horror films it is usually haunting imagery that gets to me the most - you know the kind of image you see and then it is stuck in your head for the rest of the day and you keep expecting to see a ghost staring back at you in the mirror.  The film has tons of scary images and fills you with anticipation about what is going to happen next.

It is more of a supernatural horror/thriller than the gory kind and has its quite a lot of twists but my one problem with the film is that I don't feel the characters were developed enough. I would have liked to of known a lot more about the 'Woman in Black'.  However there were a lot of disruptions during my screening due to kids chatting - another reason I would have preferred the film to be a 15 - so it is possible I just did not pick up on some of the information about the character.

As far the story goes it is not the most original of stories but in my opinion there can never be too many ghost stories.


When the film began to draw to a close I had the fear that it was going to be a 'Shutter Island' style of ending and this filled me with dread but the ending was surprisingly somewhat original and I think it can be left to interpretation on the viewers part.

If you are interested in the supernatural and scary gothic mansions then it was be up your street and you will enjoy it immensely. If you're unsure about it then wait until its Orange Wednesday.