A lot better than I expected.

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2012)

This is my first review so be patient with me, I just have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it turned out a lot better than I expected it to. Daniel Radcliffe's acting gets better and better with every film he appears in.
The location is absolutely fantastic, how the tide cuts off the house from the rest of the world and all that is left is the house and the surrounding garden. You truly believe it is a real place and the viewer is given a genuine believable excuse for the house being cut off, the tide is out which completely submerges the road away from the house, rather than being a completely unrealistic excuse like there is a massive wall that cuts off everything.
Daniel Radcliffe's acting could be better, but it is far from terrible, you really believe he is Arthur Kipps and not Harry Potter anymore. It is a brilliant thing that he is trying new things, I for one did not expect him to feature in a horror film as his first "post-Potter" film debut.
I really like how they never hid the Woman in Black, you see her directly in many occasions, instead of films such as the Blair With Project where you see NOTHING for an hour and a half.
The story behind the Woman in Black was a bit confusing for me, so many names were introduced so fast so it was hard to keep up, I got the general gist of the story and was pleased with the film's ending. You sense towards the end that the Woman in Black has not left and you will see her again before those credits roll. It was kind of 50/50 if Arthur's son would actually end up hurt but I don't believe it was done just for the sake of adding shock value.
I also liked the way for a small amount of time you believed that Arthur survived, but only a few seconds later it dawns on you that something feels wrong. From the others' reaction you weren't sure if he had survived or not until you saw the ever so slight visual change in the atmosphere, once Arthur was in "Limbo" it suddenly went darker and that was a nice, gentle realisation of the situation.