Entertaining but Nothing New.

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2012)

"The Woman in Black" is by no means a stroke of brilliance, nor will it really scare you in the theatre or haunt you after the credit roles, but as far as good 'ole ghost stories go, it's a pretty good film.
Based on the 1983 book by Susan Hill and a remake of Herbert Wise's 1989 film, the story is about a grieving widower, a lawyer named Arthur Kipps, facing severe financial problems, who must take leave from his son and attend to the estate of a deceased woman, only to find her property to be the source of much fear in the small town in which she resided. As Kipps begins to discover as the secrets hidden in the history of the family which lived in the home, he learns that the threat of a ghost and its ties to the death of numerous children may very well be more real than he had feared.
The film features some interesting yet clichéd bumps in the night, but under the direction of relative newcomer James Watkins, "The Woman in Black" does unfold in a nice, well-paced, terribly creepy manner, although does not really bring anything new to the genre. The inclusion of uncensored death of children is somewhat of a refreshing twist (usually such stories try not to make death of non-adults nearly as graphic) but overall, the film is not going to go down in history as a brilliant twist on the genre. I give it credit for not having a stereotypical ending and the film does include some seriously beautiful cinematography.
As for Daniel Radcliffe? In his first post-Potter role, many are commenting on the fact that he didn't really stray as far away from his well-known past as much as he should have, but not being a terribly big fan of the Potter films, having thus seen only the first three, I think Radcliffe does an excellent job here. I did not feel that I was watching Harry Potter for the length of the film and, hey, for the first time ever, there were moments that I thought Radcliffe was actually, dare I say it, looking kind of sexy. With his very expressive face, no doubt honed through many a take on previous sets in which he needed to exude fear, he portrayed the downtrodden and almost helplessly sad Kipps with almost mathematical execution.
"The Woman in Black" may not be the dawning of a new age of ghost stories, but it does prove to be a great spring board for Radcliffe as he dives into the next phase of what could be a very impressive acting career.