'The Woman in Black,' 3 stars

by Bill Goodykoontz - Feb. 2, 2012 02:05 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

There is nothing especially original about "The Woman in Black," Daniel Radcliffe's first big-budget foray into a post-"Harry Potter" world.

But that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable on its own terms. Director James Watkins, working from Jane Goldman's script, based on Susan Hill's novel, pushes all the right scary-movie buttons while creating a marvelously creepy atmosphere. (A theatrical version has played London's West End since 1989.)

Some of the scares are cheap -- the audience at the screening I attended laughed when Radcliffe's character made a typically predictable horror-movie decision and someone shouted, "He is so stupid." Others, however, are genuinely frightening. Subtlety may not be Watkins' strong suit, but he knows how to frame a scene for maximum tension and dread.

Interview: Daniel Radcliffe on post-Potter life

Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is a lawyer in 19th century London, a single father after his wife died in childbirth. Still mourning her death, his career is on the edge of collapse. His firm gives him a last chance: Go to a remote village and sort out the papers of a recently deceased old woman. Upon his arrival he's given a ride from the train station to the pub where he had planned to stay by a friendly local, Daily (Ciarán Hinds). Evidently Daily is the only friendly person in town -- no matter who Kipps encounters in his dealings, the refrain is universal: Go back to the train station and return to London.

Kipps instead ventures out to Eel Marsh House, the crumbling pile where the dead woman lived. A causeway that floods during high tide leaves it isolated. The disturbing décor suggests an 1800s Tim Burton as interior decorator; the delightfully demented wind-up toys are a brilliant touch. Once Kipps is inside -- naturally circumstances conspire to force an overnight stay -- it's pretty standard haunted-house movie stuff. The woman of the title (Liz White) makes a few appearances; once she is seen, it's bad news for kids in the village.

The reasons why are a little hard to come by, as most of the locals, with the exception of Daily and his wife (Janet McTeer, recently nominated for an Oscar for her role in "Albert Nobbs"), are almost violently opposed to dealing with Kipps, particularly after learning he's seen the ghost. And once Kipps does learn more about her, frankly, the ghost's behavior still isn't fully explained.

Hinds is a great actor. Radcliffe is not. Their scenes together, and there are quite a few, make this apparent. Radcliffe isn't bad, mind you -- he just isn't called on to do much more than look sad or scared. And while it is unfair to think that it can't be helped to think that Harry Potter is too boyish to be the father of a four-year-old, well, it can't be helped.

But the real stars are Watkins and cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones. The latter plunges the audience into a murky setting and leaves us there, while the former makes excellent use of doorways, corners and the edge of the frame to give us the feeling that something bad is going on there, just barely out of sight. Hint: It's a scary movie. There usually is. And "The Woman in Black" is better for it.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk.

Continued here:
'The Woman in Black,' 3 stars

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero