Slightly Predictable And Repetitive But Good At What It Does

Rating: 6/10 (30 March 2014)

A very easy film to market . Just tell everyone it's a Hammer production even though many production and distribution companies were involved in the production , stick in Daniel Radcliffe fresh from the Harry Potter franchise and use a poster that looks exactly like a Harry Potter poster and you're guaranteed to make a profit within a couple of weeks of the film opening especially if you're looking at a certificate 12 where some recent Harry Potter fans might want to see it
One should bare in mind that despite the association with Hammer THE WOMAN IN BLACK isn't an out and out horror film but more in line with a traditional English ghost story meets period drama .Did I mention this was a 12 certificate ? It does have that Hammer ethos where a young middle class gentleman arrives in a small village where they're not used to strangers and this newly arrived stranger finds himself trying to solve a mystery . It's interesting how many people who feel the need to comment on the film constantly use the adjective " atmospheric " to describe it and it's impossible not to notice this . It's also well photographed and the look of the film has a blueish cold tone to it and the film contains some very good set design . The downside to all this is that for long periods of the film there's not much happening narrative wise and gets a little bit repetitive as Radcliffe's character Arthur Kipps enters a dark , lonely room , looks around nervously then " BANG " a loud noise is added to the sound mix making the audience jump . It's a cheap trick , though an effective one but becomes very overused and the portent dread built up in the early half of the film becomes negated by the repetitive predictable manner as the film continues . That said having watched far too many recent horror films ( Usually on the Horror Channel ) whose only selling point is mean spirited graphic gore it is nice that occasionally a film like this comes along that isn't dependent upon violence in order to grab the audience and make money so here's hoping the somewhat dubious but successful name of Hammer continues with THE QUIET ONES and well in to the future