Nothing to dislike

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2012)

There's nothing to dislike about this new version of Susan Hill's classic ghost story, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, except that it's been filmed before (in the 1980s) and, inevitably, the earlier one was better. But this release of the story, made by the newly-revamped Hammer films, gets most things right.
First off, the production has a wonderful look to it. The locations are wonderfully bleak and isolated and the backdrops scream Gothic. The characters look and feel right, from the reliable Ciaran Hinds to, yes, Daniel Radcliffe as the youthful hero (I'm no fan of Radcliffe in the Potter films, but having seen MY BOY JACK I'm convinced of his talents).
The horror aspects of the story are where this new production falls down a little. Not because they're bad, because the scares are efficient enough in themselves...it's just that they're so, well, predictable. THE WOMAN IN BLACK is one of those films that suckers the reader into a quiet moment before startling them with a sudden movement or loud noise (and sometimes both together). And it does it over and over again. And again after that.
Still, for me, mood and atmosphere is everything, and at least this gets that right. The scares may be predictable, but in all other respects THE WOMAN IN BLACK is a film that pays affectionate homage to both its source material and the kind of glorious ghost stories of old.