The year is off to an inauspicious start.

Rating: 2/10 (17 February 2012)

The cinematic year is off to an inauspicious start. Case in point: The Woman in Black. The whole first hour of the film is a mess, with a story that never reaches its full potential, and actors who feel like they're sleepwalking. Daniel Radcliffe feels miscast, especially since he feels so young to be playing a widowed father. Ciaran Hinds feels flat, and Janet McTeer gives the best performance in the film, but only has two scenes to her credit. On top of that, the first hour is overwrought with cheap "Boo" scares. Things are never really that scary. Startling, maybe, but since it's a human reflex to jump at loud noises like the ones that accompany the sudden images in the film, it just feels cheap.
And you also know that a movie is boring when the audience you're watching it with are a lot more entertaining. There were a bunch of people in the theater who would constantly scream at the silliest things. An image of the title ghost walking up to a window in a mansion had a bunch of young girls shouting bloody murder. One guy even dropped his phone and it set the audience on edge. It even got to the point that, when a few people were saying "No! Don't open that door." during one scene, a guy literally shouted at the top of his lungs "Shut the *beep* up!" The screams themselves still didn't stop there, but I was surprisingly having fun with my audience. Unfortunately, the dull moments don't stop there either...
...the last 30 minutes aren't too much of an improvement. The movie at least finally limits the boo scares to only a very few spare moments, suspense builds up, and things legitimately begin to feel creepy, and even haunting. However, the disappointing ending does take a turn for the absolute worse, indeed, making me regret the experience. Never watch this unless you're watching it with the right audience.
* out of *****