The Woman in Black (2012)

In recent years, horror movies come in only two varieties that are known for their MPAA ratings: the PG-13 thriller with lots of sudden jolts and no violence, and the R-rated gorefest with wall-to-wall blood and innards. The Woman in Black is one of the former, the type I personally prefer. The "jump movie," as I call it, is typically more fully-realized, more focused on characters than violence. For example, this film centers entirely around a character played by Daniel Radcliffe, his first screen performance after being Harry potter for all those years. He is a lawyer who has been assigned the project of cleaning up the documents in the extremely isolated house of a deceased widow. Immediately upon arrival in the town outside of the area where the empty manor towers, the villagers take no time in showing their disdain for the young man. A legend says that the ghost of the dead woman kills a child in the town everytime it is seen, and Radcliffe sees it several times.

The movie alternates between daytime and nighttime. The scenes in the day are filled with silly dialogue attempting to reinforce the "plot" that we all know only exists for the purposes of the night sequences, which are wholly terrifying. I do commend the movie, though, for at least trying to set up a scenario that would allow us to care about what happens to the lawyer, even if it mostly too forced. The movie is generally a treat to watch. It is an all-out period film, with the enormous home decorated in rotting grandeur, reminding viewers of all those similarly cramped horror classics of the past. The house is a perfect place for a ghost story, full of countless opportunities for all the spooky shenanigans the movie is all too pleased to deliver. This is the sort of movie that is most at home at tween slumber parties where being scared is meant to be fun. The whole movie is nostlagic in this way, not just for being closer to a type of movie lately forgotten, but also for invoking that innocent feeling of curiosity for terror. The film's best moments are the silent bits of building tension before the big scare. It's all very typical, but effective.

I hope this style of film-making sticks around. I much prefer these atmospheric thrillers to the mindless bloodbaths that "mature" audiences are supposed to enjoy. This movie, by leaving all the violence out of the equation, is truly appropriate for anyone who understands the benefit of a good "Gotcha!" moment. That is how The Woman in Black has real value. I can only assume the visual version does justice to the book by Susan Hill upon which it was based. How does that work anyway? I just can't imagine a lengthy description of how Arthur Kipps looked out of the window because he thought he saw something, only for the sinister spectre to suddenly appear behind him and disappear when he turned around being all that scary.

7/10