A genuinely creepy chiller

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2014)

When widower Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer still coming to terms with the loss of his wife, is sent to wrap up the estate of a recently deceased woman he has no idea what he is letting himself in for. None of the villagers seem welcoming and it is clear they just want him to turn round and return to London. Not put off he goes out to Eel Marsh House to sort out the woman's papers but while there he sees a mysterious woman dressed in black. He goes to report this to the police and while he is doing so three children enter the police station; one of them has ingested poison.
It appears that a lot of children have come to grief there; the widow's son died in the marsh and the son of Sam Daily; the only person locally who welcomed Kipps unlike the villages he doesn't believe the story that a child will die after each time somebody sees the mysterious woman in black. When another child dies Kipps starts to believe and worries as his son is due to join him in the village and it is too late to cancel the trip. If he is to have any chance of saving his son he must return to Eel Marsh House again and try to bring peace to the woman in black.
Given this film's twelve certificate I was surprised at just how chilling it was it certainly gave me goose bumps! There are some jump scares but mostly the film relies on an almost constantly creepy atmosphere to keep the viewer on edge. Lead actor, Daniel Radcliffe, demonstrates that he is more than just 'Harry Potter' as he does a fine job as Kipps; a character who is rarely off screen. He is ably supported by the likes of Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds and Roger Allam although the last of these only appears briefly. There is very little gore although the one scene were a young girl coughs up blood and dies is somewhat disturbing to say the least! There are quite a few other scenes that could disturb viewers and given its theme of a vengeful spirit who kills children it is probably not a good film to show to younger viewers. Overall whether you think a film like this is any good depends on whether or not it manages to scare you it certainly scared me more than many horror films that I've seen.