A rather pointless film that didn't need to be made.

Rating: 3/10 (3 March 2017)

If you have never seen a single horror film in your entire life, then perhaps the Woman in Black is for you; however even the average film goer can identify this is tired, worn out, done-to-death story we've seen hundreds - - if not thousands - - of times before.
The story is simple. In the superstitious turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century, a solicitor/lawyer/whatever has business with a scary old house that local village people fear and believe to be haunted. It turns out the house is very much haunted by a ghost, a woman in black, who inflicts murder and grief upon the village folk because of her sons death at the house as Daniel Radcliffe's character discovers by snooping through desks and drawers whilst staying at the house. The plot escalates quickly, which leads one to believe a large portion of the script had been removed in the cutting room floor. Radcliffe's character catches on and becomes cluey all too soon into the story.
The only problem with this film that writes it off as a success is that it is so, so, so very unoriginal. I can't imagine how many times I've seen this type of story before; maybe I'm just neck deep into horror films but as previously suggested, even someone with the slightest idea of horror and thriller knows this textbook ghost story. There is nothing original about the film, which I could overlook if there were redeeming characteristics like a uniqueness in film making, musical composition or script writing but the Woman in Black falls flat in all aspects of this. Furthermore, the jump scares and attempt to create a sinister, spooky vibe are some what embarrassing.
With the overall film being taken into account, it isn't actually bad. The style is superb, with brilliant cinematography and quality acting (not so much on Radcliffe's behalf) and what I really liked about this movie is its location setting – the swampy causeway leading to Osea Island and the general countryside of Essex set a lovely and gloomy mood for the remaining hour and thirty minutes.
I would never recommend or even bring this title up in conversation, as I can think of plenty of other classic ghost story titles at the top of my head that are far more interesting than this brilliantly developed, but unforgivably run of the mill story.