Brave try but ultimately a fail

Rating: 5/10 (23 February 2012)

I was fortunate enough to be able to compare the 1989 TV version and the new outing and even though the new film benefited from tons of cash and Dan Radcliffe it is a poor relation to the TV drama. Adrian Rawlins as Arthur Kidd is far far superior to Dan and his Kipps character.
Dan and Kipps seemed to wander around slightly bemused whilst Kidd's descent into madness and horror was portrayed very well by Adrian. There were creepy turns from both Ladies In Black but Pauline Moran in the TV drama did better close up. The brilliant TV actor Bernard Hepton far outclassed the very good film actor Ciarán Hinds as Sam. The effects in the new version were decent but the atmospheric feel was won hands down by TV. Mainly it was in the writing and the TV had Nigel 'Quatermass' Kneale who really knew how to get into the viewers head.
It is nice to see Dan making a name for himself outside of the Potter films and he did a decent job it must be said but something about what he had to work with was missing. The Woman in Black is NOT a horror film it is a psychological and creepy drama and it was sad to see the film people resorting to a screaming face in the window pane to get the films only real jolting moment. A scene that made no real sense and had no real connection with what was going on. It summed the film up really as the hype had built this up to be a real scarer and it was more akin to films like The Haunting than some Hollywood scream fest. The Woman in Black is a creepy story that gives you a sense of unease and TV did it far far better than the movie people who were trying to compete with the Hollywood horror genre rather than trying to make a real old style drama which this story is. The ending of the TV version far more disturbing than the silly ending of the film version.
Overall it was a half decent movie which was reasonably well acted given the constraints of the script they were handed but Nigel Kneales TV script really wiped the floor with this and was an example of how TV actors sometimes eclipse their big screen cousins on a budget probably less than this films catering.