A really good horror/mystery film, but not a perfect one

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2014)

I'll start by saying that I am probably one of the few people in the universe who hasn't seen any of the Harry Potter films. To be honest, I have no intention of watching any of them (not really my thing) so unlike the majority of people this was the first film I've seen with Daniel Radcliffe and I must say that it was a very impressive film.
Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) is a young lawyer who is sent to a remote village to examine documents for a widow who died at a property called Eel Marsh Farm. The widow's name is Alison Drablow and she died at the property around 12 months ago. Kipps is told that he needs to go through all the documents with a fine tooth comb in order for his law firm to complete her last will & testament. Kipps becomes more intrigued when he discovers that Drablow had a little boy that died whilst she was living at the property.
I really enjoyed this film and found the story to be suitably engaging and mysterious. The creepiness of the residents and the general paranoia surrounding Eel Marsh Farm certainly held my interest. I quite liked the idea behind the film as well (ghost of mother of dead boy makes children commit suicide). Her motivations for this are open to interpretation, but I felt that she just wanted other parents to feel the same pain that she felt in losing her child - the difference being that she lost her child in an emotional sense (lack of contact) rather than the other parents losing their child in a physical sense (more obviously kids killing themselves). I liked the 'thought provoking' nature of the plot.
The direction and score were both excellent and there were many dark shots which really did give this film a very creepy feel. The cinematography was also really impressive; particularly some of the misty shots from outside the house. These are really big pluses for this film and I must say from a technical perspective it was nothing short of excellent. Acting wise I thought that Radcliffe & Hinds were both solid in their respective roles. Whilst there is much to praise this film for, I did have a couple of issues with the film; Regrettably, there were quite a number of cheap horror cliché jump scares. Had there been 1 or 2 throughout the film, I would have probably let it go, but there must have been at least a dozen. This was a bit of a shame as everything else about the film was superb. The ending was also fairly predictable, but at least it was slightly 'uplifting'
Despite the minor problems, this is still a very good film with an interesting story and characters. There is also excellent cinematography & direction. Unfortunately, it is let down slightly by numerous cheap jump scares. Nevertheless, I was still very impressed with this film.