The Woman in Black is the second mainstream horror release of 2012. The Devil Inside, released last month, received less than stellar reviews, but a creepy Victorian-set ghost story has already seemingly outshined it.
Hattiesburg residents: The Woman in Black is now playing at The Grand 18 on Grand Drive and at UA Sawmill Cinema 5 in Laurel.
In a remote English village, a lonely widow has just died. London lawyer Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is sent to settle her estate, but the locals make it blatantly obvious that he is not wanted there. He plans to go to the widow’s house and gather all of her paperwork, but is specifically told that he should stay away. So what does he do? He goes to the house, of course. But he leaves as soon as he hears mysterious noises, right? Of course not. To say too much more would be venturing into spoiler territory, but suffice to say, he sneaks a peek at a mysterious woman dressed all in black wandering the premises. And when The Woman in Black appears, bad things happen.
The Woman in Black is an update of a 1989 movie that was based on a 1983 book of the same name by Susan Hill. It was co-produced by Hammer Films, the studio that was popular for 1950’s horror movies like Horror of Dracula (1958), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), and The Mummy (1959). As expected, this movie has every element that a good ghost story should have -- a mysterious, remote village, a newcomer unwelcome among locals of said village, and even an isolated mansion complete with its own wooded cemetery. The creepy imagery might not keep fanatics up at night, but it offers for plenty of scares and jump sequences. After over a decade of playing the world’s most famous boy wizard, Daniel Radcliffe is surprisingly believable as a widowed father with a career -- and no, his son’s name is not Albus Severus. Anyone who loves a good old fashioned ghost story will probably enjoy The Woman in Black. Who knows...you might even want to sleep with the lights on.
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