Time to buy a night-light.

Rating: 8/10 (25 May 2012)

I had high hopes, and low expectations. I liked the story idea, a hint of a more classic ghost story, but just knew in my heart that modern film making can no longer pull that off. I was pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of wide angle shots where you can just barely catch a ghostly figure looming in the background. You sit for a minute and think "is that a person, or a shadow?" I love ghost stories, especially those creepy kid ones like The Changeling and Haunting of Julia. This one meets that mark, though not exactly in the same league, but the closest of any modern movie in a while. I like the fact that the overall concept of the film and the camera work is scary enough to stand on it's own with very little use of the startle effect that is so predominate in what is considered horror today. Although there are a few scenes where the loud noise and abrupt insert is used, it was properly placed within the story, not just to get the audience moving. There were a couple downfalls that I noted. Mainly the fact that the woman in black was c.g. which is disappointing. Also, Daniel Radcliffe is not a bad actor,yet he is not a great one either. I just couldn't buy it. It may be because he just looks too young for the part, or the fact it follows too close to Harry Potter to see him any differently. I would have preferred a more aged and mature actor. I did like it a lot and enjoyed the residual creepy feeling afterward.