"The Woman in Black," a new horror-thriller, premiered Friday, Feb. 3 to audiences all across America. The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter" superstar, and while this movie may be supernatural, Radcliffe wields no wand in this film.
Radcliffe plays a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, forced by his law firm to visit a small village far from his home and family. You find out that Arthur Kipps lost his wife while giving birth to their son and has never been able to move on from the experience. His son, who looks remarkably like his late mother, also keeps Kipps from being able to recover.
When Kipps arrives in the small village everyone rejects him. The hotel where his law firm reserved a room for him only allowed him to sleep in the attic for one night, before being tossed out, and he is not trusted around children. Everyone seems suspiciously over-protective of their children.
Arthur Kipps ignores the unfriendliness of the townspeople and focuses on his work, instead. He pays a man to take him to the house he is supposed to be researching, the Eel Marsh House. Kipps tries to lose himself in the documents found in the house, but he cannot ignore strange noises coming from the second story of the home. He decides to investigate the noise and finds himself in an old bedroom, and just when he convinces himself it was nothing he sees an older woman standing in the garden out below the window, dressed from head to toe in black. Kipps is startled by the woman and runs out to find her, but once he arrives outside there is no trace of the mysterious woman in black. This is where Arthur Kipp's troubles begin.
Arthur finds out about an old legend that exists in the village. Townspeople say that once a person sees the woman in black and a child from the town, they violently die. This is why the villagers are so protective of their children. The village urges Arthur to stay away from the old Eel Marsh House, but his curiosity gets the best of him, and he, of course, returns.
The Woman in Black is an edge-of-your-seat, cover-your-eyes kind of movie that will keep the audience wondering what else could possibly happen in the scenes to come. Daniel Radcliffe's performance is absolutely wonderful, as expected, and few critiques can be made about the film. The ending of the film was very bittersweet and may not sit well with all audiences since it is not the happiest of all endings.
Also, it was very strange to see Radcliffe playing the father of a four-year-old boy. After seeing Radcliffe grow up on television for so many years, he just didn't seem old enough to play a father. It was almost laughable when you first see him embrace his son, but when the child is not in the scene the audience quickly forgets Radcliffe is playing a father. If you like to be entertained and you like to be scared, I suggest you visit a movie theatre this weekend. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 4.5/5
