Frights that taste like antiquity

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2012)

The Woman in Black comes from the past, in any sense. From the best selling book by Susan Hill, written in the 80s, it tells a ghost story that accurately respects the ancient tradition of the genre. The attempt to bring to life this kind of novel, about ancient manors and ghastly appearances, might, at a first glance, seem rather risky and unnecessary. This is definitely true if we think of the nature of the movie that, in fact, does not bring any new innovation to the genre. Fortunately, if we focus on the way the movie is made we may find lots and lots of reasons to watch this movie.
First of all, the 19th century atmosphere of the Woman in Black completely swallows you up. Many times, while watching the movie, I totally empathized with the protagonist. I cannot tell whether that's good or bad, as in many cases I was glad I wasn't really in the protagonist shoes. The whole setting (costumed people included) is so well-created that every time manages to make you feel anxious/worried/scared according to the circumstance. This is one of the greatest points of strength of the movie.
Secondly, the movie knows how to scare you. I am not claiming that it will give goose-bumps even to the bravest man on the earth, but that it successfully manages to give you a general sense of sickness by an intelligent use of every detail present in the movie. And here we have scary dolls, frightening toys, spooky objects. All of them accurately created, aimed to make you feel uncomfortable and worried. Of course, this may vary according to the type of watcher but I really appreciated the way the fear was orchestrated.
The most appealing feature of the movie is, undoubtedly, the presence of Daniel Radcliffe. Daniel's interpretation is highly satisfying and provides us with a great expression of his real talent. Along with all the other remarkably capable actors, he's exactly what we expect from a movie like this.
Finally, even if you're not particularly fond of ghost stories, why don't you give it a try?