The Woman in Black

You've probably seen the trailer for this sometime over the past couple weeks. Its the trailer for Daniel Radcliffe's new movie, The Woman in Black.

It looks really good from the trailer. You get lots of eerie images, like a carriage driving past a grave and at the very end, a ghostly face appearing right behind Daniel Radcliffe. The Woman in Black has lots of your basic elements of horror: a scary old house, creepy children, old warped photographs, the fear of being alone in the dark and black, shadowy figures. It sounds like a recipe for a perfect horror movie. The Woman in Black is actually based off of a 1986 version of the same movie. I watched the old version, and even though the acting wasn't great and the effects were on a budget, it gave me a better impression. There was more plot involved in the 1986 version. Radcliffe's character is supposed to be a very innocent young man who is slowly driven insane in the house and we as the audience get to watch his drop into insanity. There are more aspects to the background of exactly who the woman in black is explained in the original that would have made this version better. Because of my previous knowledge of the story, I thought this movie abruptly ended. Often, movie makers think that just showing a scary face is enough to scare the audience, but there's an art form to it. There needs to be an element of mystery, because most fear comes from not knowing. The remake tried to do this, but it ended up being a movie where you get to watch Daniel Radcliffe walk around for about five minutes following the sound of a noise until FINALLY something happens. It kind of bothered me that such a popular actor didn't really need to act in this movie. I like it when you can tell the actor has been challenged by a role and that's when their talent comes out. Daniel Radcliffe has the potential to be a great actor, but only if he eventually takes roles that take him farther than walking around, looking frustrated or scared (basically all of the last 3 Harry Potter Movies.)

The premise and plot could've made made this movie a ten, but throughout the movie there were dull spots. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride of quality. The only thing about the ending I will say is that it came too soon, there could've easily been more story line added. The Woman in Black wasn't very long, there was definitely room for more horror. Overall, this movie will make you scared, but when its all said and done you will feel dissapointed.