"The Woman in Black" (2012)

[jmodlinc]

Well, Tony... it's finally here. Critics-wise, some really dug the old-fashioned atmospherics and rich production design, others couldn't really buy Daniel Radcliffe's performance as an older father and found the movie too reliant on jump scares and other tried-and-true clichés (one or two even finding the movie boring).

So, what says you?

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_woman_in_black_2011/

movies.yahoo.com/photos/five-film-facts-the-woman-in-black--1328132489-slideshow/#tf

[bigmac]

I didn't like the first half, with too many jump scares and music stings that seemed out of place. But as the film progressed, the movie started working pretty well. Up until the ending, which was awful.

You can read my full review here:

www.planetfury.com/content/woman-black-2012

[Mama Bear]

I liked it, it was pretty creepy and I thought Daniel Radcliffe was very good, he seemed haunted even before the ghost started popping up. It did have a lot of jump scares, I was expecting a more subtle touch and the ending wasn't very good but I enjoyed it.

[funkygmacman]

I agree with bigmac, except I didn't have a problem with the ending. The cheap jump scares at the beginning were stupid, but once it settled into it's rhythm, I enjoyed it quite a bit

[yddy]

I'm curious if anyone who has seen it has seen the original play, and if so, what are your thoughts? It will be hard for me to not compare the two. The play is just amazing.

[bigmac]

You got to see the play? I am quite envious! Where did you see it?

[yddy]

Saw it in London back in 2001 during my study abroad. My professor strongly encouraged that we attend, and I'm so grateful she did. It is one of my top memorable theater experiences, the other being seeing MacBeth at the Globe Theater. I didn't even think that it was possible to be terrified by watching a play, but that's exactly what you get with The Woman in Black. At one point, she walked down the aisle right next to me, and I nearly screamed. Plus, there is one stage scare that had the entire audience freaking out. It was absolutely incredible. If you ever get a chance to see it in London, please do. The twist, alone, is worth the price of admission.

[Peekysdad]

I just got home from seeing this. I was really looking forward to it and wanted to like it, but I was pretty disapointed. Like everyone has said, most of the film is cheap jump scares. Uh oh! somethings coming up behind him... AH!!! Oh. It's a bird.

We get treated to crap like that about every five minutes. We see a lot of the ghost and it's the same old dark eyed spectre we've come to expect over the last twenty years or so.

Radcliffe did okay with what he was given to do which is basically walk around a house. I had no trouble with his age. Looks like a guy in his twenties who is the father of a five-year-old. Not so strange, especially at the turn of the twentieth century.

What I didn't like about the ending was

SPOILER: Click to show

if this woman is such a malevolent spirit how could she allow the father to die with the son so we have this happy family reunited in the afterlife? Maybe that's why she gives us that pissed off glare in the final shot.

I've never seen the eighties film and I've been interested in checking it out for some time. I look forward to hearing Ted and Tony's comparison on the From the Hip episode. The original must be scarier than this.

[bigmac]

Peekysdad, that was my problem with the ending as well. Though, if you think about it in a different light...

SPOILER: Click to show

Maybe killing them both and reuniting them with Mrs. Kipps was the ghost's way of thanking Kipps for bringing her and her son back together.

But, if you go with that explanation, it makes no freaking sense for several reasons I won't go into outside of a spoiler box. It was a cheap sellout, assuming the audience wanted things to end on an up note.

And yddy, I am green with envy. Doubt I'll get to London anytime soon, but when I do, if it's still playing, I will be getting a ticket.

[Peekysdad]

Feb 7, 2012 23:20:35 GMT -5 bigmac said:

Peekysdad, that was my problem with the ending as well. Though, if you think about it in a different light...

That actually occurred to me, too, which only made me dislike the ending more.

[yddy]

Bigmac, I hope you do. It's an experience of a lifetime.

[maarow]

I would love to see the play! Sounds amazing, and the medium seems more well-suited to this sort of material than a film. There were quite a few differences between the book and the film, and I thought the movie was the poorer for it.

I agree with the consensus here--too many jumps scares and MTV techniques for what should have been a Gothic slow burn. And who would have those absolutely horrific wind-up toys for their children?

The old-fashioned elements are too cliched to be enjoyable (townspeople keeping mum about a dark secret, children staring from windows, woman under a supernatural influence providing key information) and the newer techniques (CGI transformations, jump scares, copious slow motion) would throw off anyone who's only in it for the old-fashioned approach. So really I don't know who the audience was--too dull for teens and too irritatingly modern for old school genre fans. How disappointing.

[yddy]

I wish we could all just take a field trip to London and catch a showing.

[dedmontondarlin]

I know I'm chiming in a little late on this, but I actually liked the movie. I didn't go into it expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the creepy house although I suppose Radcliffe was a little too OK with the sounds and movements while he was alone in the house. I liked the atmosphere that was created.
Not exactly sure how I would classify the target audience for the movie, but my husband who doesn't like horror movies seemed to like it so there's that.
As for the ending, I was actually thinking that

SPOILER: Click to show

he and his son were actually going to survive the train and when they didn't I was relieved. Happy in the sense that they are now reunited with the mother but not so much in that they just got flattened by a train.

All in all a good horror movie that won't scare the pants off you but will leave you feeling a little unsettled.
Did make me miss England a little too ^_^

[Zeus]

Without spoiling anything (I haven't even skimmed this thread), do you think I should watch the original 1989 film first, or just skip to the recent remake?

All I know about the films is that the original is supposedly a classic, and that they somehow involve a ghost.