Don't go chasing shadows....

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2012)

Hammer studios release their best movie in decades, with this stark, atmospheric ghost story.
Radcliffe is a lawyer who has a tragic past. His wife died during childbirth and now he is struggling to make ends meet and is on a final warning at his law firm.
He goes to a remote village, where it seems that everyone has seen The Wicker Man and treat Kipps as an outsider. He is there on business to sort out someones estate, but the locals are desperate to get rid of him, apart from one, the local rich man, Sam.
Kipps arrives at the estate to catch up on paperwork, and when he looks out of the window, he sees a mysterious figure, the titular character.
From then on, every time he sees 'TWIB', a child from the village dies in a violent way.
Slowly uncovering the truth via letters from dead relatives, Kipps goes through psychological toil trying to keep sane and keep harm away from his child...
What Potter did next is something very mature and hugely scary in parts. It's a traditional ghost story, and the director knows what to do with the source material and the beautiful house which, without trying to sound clichéd, becomes a character in itself.
What makes the film more eerie is that we never really see 'TWIB' close up until the last five or ten minutes. The rest of the film, we are treated to subliminal glimpses and effective use of 'old house sounds'.
Radcliffe is great, and soon gets rid of the Potter similarities, although he may be a little too young to plat the character.
the film gives you an unsettling feel of dread from the offset and depending on which way you look at it, the end is either very glum or very uplifting, Kudos to Jane Goldman for such a good script too.
Well worth seeing.
And the dog makes it at the end if you were wondering...