The Woman in Black

Bea says: I was keen to see this after hearing a radio interview with the author of the book it was adapted from (Susan Hill, The Woman in Black). On the radio, Susan Hill was engaging and interesting, and I decided to see the upcoming film on the basis of the interview, and the anticipated thrill of a good, old fashioned ghost story, so I dragged Cecil down to our local cinema for the afternoon show.

The book is now on either the GSCE or A level syllabus, which perhaps explains its popularity and the amount of young people in the audience (or perhaps that is more to do with Daniel Radcliffe!) Radcliffe does a good turn as Arthur Kipps, a grieving and poorly performing young lawyer who takes a make-or-break case to settle the affairs of a widow in the north east of England. Arriving in town, he is greeted with suspicion and before long the eerie events begin. It is indeed a good old-fashioned ghost story (and actually not very original - but I am sure Cecil will say more about that!) with all the requirements of such a story: mist, derelict houses, Victoriana, strange children etc etc. The ending rather caught me by surprise; and I am still not sure whether I think it was an interesting departure from the usual ghost story formula or just a cop-out. I am a wimp and easy to scare, but I certainly got the chills and jumped out of my skin a few times (so much so that the young woman next to me laughed more at my reactions than got scared herself!).

The film is beautifully shot and worth seeing just for the scenery, costumes and Victoriana of the widow's house. Although set in the north east of England, a little bit of internet research has told me that the house and causeway scenes were shot in Essex, and the railway scenes on the Bluebell steam railway.
**1/2

Cecil says: To get really scared by a ghost story, I need to be immersed in the plot and for the surprises to work on me I need no distraction around me...

What were those eerie whispering voices all around us? Oh damn yes, it was the kids from Richmond High School lower sixth...

And those shady figures moving around the auditorium? Yep, same kids - and some younger - heading off to the loo (I thought it was older men who had incontinence problems??)

But hey that rustling and crackling noise is scary. Where does it come from? Oh darn, it's the kids behind us munching on popcorn...

I'll barely mention the flashing lights as Facebook pinged up on mobile phones all round the place every 5 minutes.

So, without total immersion in the atmosphere, I'm afraid this film did nothing for me. It just came across as silly and soooo like any other cheap horror, mystery film over the years (and yes, there WAS the usual Scoobie-Doo plot to it)...

In the evening after the film, we decided to watch an old DVD in the absence of anything good on telly. Herzog's Nosferatu was our choice. And blow me down if I didn't get the impression that the maker of The Woman in Black had nicked (no, sorry, been inspired by) idea after idea from Nosferatu: from tentative search room by room of a mysterious house; through tombs that have a convenient diagonal opening through the middle so you can open it; hell, Nosferatu even had a woman in black for god's sake. But Nosferatu was a great film...

*.5