The Woman in Black - Film review

The first thing you will notice when you watch the film (which is out in the cinemas at the moment) is the guy with dark hair and blue eyes that will probably seem quite familiar. Actually, we saw him growing up in a popular series of films: Daniel Radcliffe played Harry Potter from 2001 until 2011. It seemed unclear whether he would be offered another role in a different movie because he was so connected to his first role, and so this film was greatly anticipated. 'The Woman in Black' is based on a horror fiction novel by Susan Hill, written in 1983. The story was also adapted into a stage play. Compared to theatre, film producers have more opportunities to show surreal things like ghosts, and are able to use special effects. 'The Woman in Black' is one of those horror films that have lots of effects in them. It seems that we, the audience, have to be prepared to be shocked at every moment. The music throughout the film seems very dark and mysterious, whilst it becomes piercing in the moments of tension. A face in a window; a hand on a glass door; a wildly rocking chair and the sound of scary-looking, music-producing toys - these are elements that will most certainly give you goose bumps. The plot of the film is a rather classic horror story: Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer and widowed father from London (Daniel Radcliffe), is sent to a little town where nobody, apart from one family, will accept him. On the contrary, the villagers try hard to get rid of him. Arthur Kipps has to sort out the documents of Mrs. Drablow who has just passed away. She lived in a house that is cut off from the mainland when there is high tide. On this little island nothing seems to be normal: Arthur soon discovers what happened to the family a long time ago. At first, the protagonist does not want to believe in what is happening to him. In the meantime, children of the village die in a cruel way and everybody blames the arrival of Arthur for it. Eventually, the hero sees what the audience has been suspecting for long time: a pale woman in a black dress is the reason for the death of an uncountable amount of children. This is where the fight against unnatural powers starts. Even though the plot is not new to lovers of horror films, we get completely caught in the mysterious and spiritual story about revenge, hope and family. Daniel Radcliffe has proved that he has turned from a little magical boy with a wand to a mature actor. It seems that he is already used to fighting creatures that are more powerful than him. The end of the film will show us, however, that firstly we have all been tricked and secondly that there is life for Daniel Radcliffe beyond Harry Potter.