The Woman in Black (2012) Review

In an incredibly traditional thriller/horror style, The Woman in Black epitomises everything we find horrifying about haunted houses and superstitions – to truly terrify someone, it is unnecessary to drown the screen in blood and gore, but it is more effective to establish an eerie atmosphere which sends chills down the viewer’s spine with each vibrating footstep. It is clear that together with Daniel Radcliffe, director James Watkins has made his mark, challenging the contemporary ways of creating horror; he has set standards that 2012 and years to come may struggle to top, and has completely revived the dead, traditional genre of Horror.

It is sad that Daniel Radcliffe’s acting improvement from the Harry Potter series is almost nonexistent, but his ability to shift his persona after engaging in such a steady roll is admirable. His role as a widowed lawyer with a son leads him into a muddy mess, as his investigation in a woman’s death traps him in an unwanted horror that his curiosity cannot cease chasing, despite ample warning from the village. Thankfully, his lack of ability to portray his emotions is not entirely counterproductive; his character’s ignorance is mandatory when setting the atmosphere. The worry in the villager’s voices and faces are enough to create awareness of the supernatural, which leads to questioning the curious behaviour of the villagers and their children’s untimely, unexplainable deaths - the premise of this horror.

The essence of horror is not to completely confuse the viewer, but instead to lead them astray and leave their mind feeling vulnerable and frightened. This is effortlessly accomplished in The Woman in Black; the simplicity of the story and swiftness of plot progression is perfectly proportionate. It feels traditional, eerie almost, like the feeling when watching The Others for the very first time – we feel frightened, but don’t know why just yet. It is tailored perfectly to tantalize us, to tempt our curiosity; we continue to wait for the woman in black to appear even though we know a scream is just around the corner.

Classical Horror imagery is incorporated into almost every scene – the creepy musical toys, mahogany rocking chairs, the dim, candle-lit hallways in an old, Victorian mansion. Even the foggy marshes that is considered one of the most cliché conventions of horror feels as fresh as if Watkins was the very first to use it. The pace of the film begins relatively slowly, but does so in order to place us in the village as if we were stood right beside Radcliffe, and to see for ourselves the woman in black.

Whatever your preference of film genre may be, The Woman in Black is an artfully brilliant production that fascinates the mind, reviving all the dead conventions of Horror that we all once loved, but unwittingly abandoned in favour of gore and blood. Your knees will be knocking, your stomachs will be twisting, and unquestionably you will be trembling at the sound of a pin drop, observing fearfully for the silhouette of a woman.