Beware The Woman in Black

            Greetings all you movie going, blog reading people out there!  I’m known as TheCinemaChick and welcome to my first and only review of February.  As I mentioned in my last blog, I’m a little burned out.  I had 16 entries in the previous month, so my brain, my fingers and my wallet need a break.  I did, however, mention that no matter what I would review “The Woman in Black”, the brand new Daniel Radcliffe thriller.  

            Right now, all I can say is “Holy cow…that was amazing.”

            Now, I’ve become rather wary of scary movies.  Please ignore the unintended rhyme there.  The last few movies that were supposed to frightening…well…failed miserably.  “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” was more of a fantasy and “The Devil Inside” was just an abomination.  Even the movies I rented didn’t phase me.  I mean, I liked “Insidious” but overall, it just did nothing.  So, as with any new release, I was hesitant when I heard preliminary reviews for this.  People were saying that it was indeed frightening, but then again, this is me.  I don’t scare easily, if at all.

            This is the only time I will admit this but, I was hiding behind my jacket during portions of the film.  I gasped, I was on the edge of my seat and yes, I was scared.  The opening scene alone had me freaked out.  While I normally can’t show you clips of the film, Yahoo! Movies actually has this posted online.  So, feel free to watch the opening scene and trust me, it hooks you in immediately.

            If you’re not interested after seeing that, well, then don’t see it.  What got me was the use of the slightly creepy music with those freaky old dolls.  But when you get to the part where the girls stop playing, crush their toys and jump out the window, you have to admit, that is terrifying.  While it seems strange and somewhat random now, trust me, it all makes sense in the end.

            Like I said, I’m normally not scared when I see a movie, but this one had so many moments that made me grip the arm rests of my seat.  There are a few obligatory jump scares, but the rest just keeps building the suspense higher and higher until you reach the unexpected climax and subsequent ending.  I honestly did not see that final twist heading my way, which is rare.  Usually I can predict what will happen, but this one had me guessing.

The editing is a bit choppy since some of the story is told only in flashback, but those moments are very short so you never really get a true sense of the past.  Yeah, I get a brief glimpse of how The Woman in Black came to be, but it wasn’t enough to sate me.  And while The Woman isn’t actually shown much, she is a huge influence on the entire film so she creates this wonderful sense of menace throughout.  When she does show up, it’s creepy and disturbing and oh so delightfully scary.  I cannot express enough how happy I am to have watched a movie that genuinely proved to be a horror.

            Daniel Radcliffe is the main star and while every time I saw him, I did think about Harry Potter, he does prove that he can and will go on to better films.  Not to say the Harry Potter films were bad, but this was a new type of role for him.  He was superb in his first role outside of the series.  Having seen him now, I think he could play a wide variety of characters, ranging from the boy wizard to a man in a haunted house to almost anything.  I have to admit, it was so weird seeing his character in the film drink alcohol.  To me, it was like watching an underage wizard sneaking whiskey.  I just have to remind myself, Radcliff is a man now.  He’s legal.

            Now, having said all that, I still wouldn’t take a young teenager to see this.  I’d say sixteen and up crowd is best suited for this movie.  For the most part, it is tame, but when the action picks up, it picks up quick and it slams into you.  Plus, the movie does feature very violent deaths of children, so it’s not likely that certain people can sit through that.  Look at the opening scene alone.  Three young girls kill themselves by jumping out a window.  Sadly, that is not the most violent death.  

            “The Woman in Black” is a genuinely frightening movie that I wouldn’t recommend seeing alone.  I took Fry with me and we both agreed that this film is worth seeing again.  If the ghosts and death won’t scare you, those creepy looking Victorian toys will.  I seriously could have done without a scene where light reflects off their eyes so it looks like they are following Radcliffe as he walks.  I do admit, this movie isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a fan of Daniel Radcliffe or scary movies like me, you’ll enjoy this one and maybe, get a few good screams out of it.

            Fry and I did agree, this isn’t a movie we wanted to see at night.  They keep using windows as a way to show The Woman, so we left the theater slightly paranoid of looking out our windows at home tonight.  For me, the weird girl who’s rarely scared, I enjoyed being scared.  I liked that this movie had me terrified when the lights went out or that I held my breath every time the eerie music started.

            This is what it means to be a horror movie.  You keep piling on the suspense, keep the watcher hooked and BAM!  Major surprise that no one saw coming leading to an unsettling, fairly open ending.  And normally, I hate open endings, but this one did give me that feeling of satisfaction so I was not upset with the ambiguous end.  Though…it is really sad.  The suspense was nearly killing me until a certain point and I realized what had happened.  

            Absolutely brilliant.

            I want to see this movie again, then own it on DVD.

            Yeah, it was that good.

            I’m TheCinemaChick and this is my only review for the month.  I do however, have some opinion pieces in the works, so keep your eyes open for those.

            Also, I’m about to reach 100 posts.  We might have to celebrate.