Daniel Radcliffe as Kipps
The great British film revolution just keeps on coming and the UK’s new offering, The Woman In Black left the Leftlion Screen crew debating its weight in gold thanks to some frankly awful promotional posters. Luckily for all, the terrible photoshopping was in no way a reflection of the film, which sees Daniel Radcliffe shake off the Potter glasses and immerse himself in some scary happenings.
A film produced by the newly re-imagined Hammer, The Woman In Black is directed by up-and-coming director James Watkins, whose previous offering - horror flick Eden Lake - was a terrifying dive into social disintegration and gang culture. In contrast, Watkins has taken a different direction with The Woman In Black, which is a pretty traditional ghost story, based on the novel by Susan Hill and with screenplay by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass). The story follows widowed lawyer Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) to a remote Northern village where he must attend to some paper work left by a recently deceased woman. On arrival in the village, the residents he meets are less than friendly and it soon transpires that the house Kipps is dealing with is at the centre of a mystery surrounding the deaths of many local children. Although told to leave, Kipps is undeterred and as he sorts the paperwork strewn throughout the mansion he becomes embroiled in the mystery of the manor house and the terrifying woman in black.
This is Radcliffe’s first non-Potter foray on the big screen and unfortunately he will, for a while at least, be followed by the spectre of Harry Potter, with everyone debating how his performance in another role would hold up. Although the character of Kipps was instantly distinguishable from his performance as the bespectacled pre-teen (being a lawyer with a child helped), it took a while for me to warm to Radcliffe as a lawyer. The more I became absorbed in the story however, so too did I become in Radcliffe’s acting and ultimately found him to have handled the part admirably. A brilliant supporting role was offered by Ciarán Hinds, who Radcliffe seemed to bounce off extremely well.
Ciaran Hinds and Daniel Radciffe in The Woman in Black
The Woman In Black definitely comes thick and fast with the frights. Although there are many of them, TWIB doesn’t rely on gore or overly occult happenings, rather producing the scares through images that are seen in the peripheral; children lurking behind doors, or the woman loitering in a corner. The camera is constantly panning at a slow rate so although barely noticed by the audience, it garners a feeling of foreboding that compliments the natural escalation of fear in the story. Depth of field and use of light and shadow also pertain to this, during scenes in the manor house, it feels as though the audience is trespassing or intruding into a place where they are not welcome. The house’s décor is designed brilliantly, at once both sumptuous and creepy – the wood is mahogany, the walls a deep, dark purple and the hallways long and oppressive. However, by far the scariest element of the manor house - apart from the woman - are the toys and automatons; their eyes follow the audience until it feels that they’re looking out of the screen straight at you. As for the woman, she is terrifying, however only when glimpsed. Watkins mentioned during the Q&A that he was a firm believer in the “less is more” maxim, which he stuck to faithfully. Unfortunately, there were a few shots when the woman’s face is too clearly shown; every time this happened she was humanised and the fear diminished slightly.
Ultimately The Woman In Black is not just a ghost story, but an exploration of loss and grief. When asked about this during the Q&A, Watkins admitted to liking the “bittersweet” element of the film. This additional angle gave The Woman In Black more depth, allowing it to distinguish itself from mere horror tale and work the audience on a human level as well as a supernatural one.
Watkins and co. have created a film that is both terrifying and enjoyable, without being kitsch or vapid. I have not been so scared during a film for a long, long time and think that the rest of the audience in the screening I was at felt the same – there were a lot of bums lifting off seats during some particularly tense scenes. I highly, highly recommend you brave a showing yourself however… There is one word of warning I would part however, although the film adheres to the criteria of its 12A certificate, The Woman In Black is a film that is thick and fast on the shock factor and could easily give the little ones with night nightmares, so please keep this in mind when you take kids of a younger age.
The Woman in Black will be showing at Broadway from Friday 10 February
The Woman in Black official website
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