Freak Show : Certified Ace Movie Review : The Woman In Black : Angel of Death

The Woman In Black : Angel Of Death, a serviceable creep show

Genre: Horror
Country: United Kingdom
Studio: Mark Eckersley Production company, Hammer Films, Entertainment One, Cross Creek Pictures, Relativity Media
Release Date: December 30, 2014

Director: Tom Harper
Starring Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, Ned Dennehy

In 2012, Daniel Radcliffe surprised everyone when he starred in the movie adaptation of the Susan Hill novel The Woman In Black.
Set during the Edwardian Era, he played widowed lawyer Arthur Kipps. He is tasked to go to Crythin Gifford to arrange the sale of the "Eel Marsh House" and examine the documents left by its deceased owner Alice Drablow. Soon he is drawn into a curse that has been plaguing the town and decides to find out the mystery behind the so-called Woman in black.

The film became a box-office success, earning $127.7 million at the box-office, and received positive reception from critics praising it's tone and atmosphere. Because of this, a sequel to the film was planned.
Two years after the release of the first film, Hammer Films has finally unveiled the sequel to their highly successful horror film. This time, minus Radcliffe.

So did the film fared better than it's predecessor? Let's find out as we have a breakdown of the film.

Story

The film opens during the Blitz of World War II. Eve Parkins together with her schoolchildren and the school's headmistress, Jean Hogg leaves the city and evacuates to the countryside town of Crythin Gifford. On their way,she met Harry Burnstow, a pilot stationed at an airfield near their area.
They stay at the Eel Marsh House for their temporary shelter.
During their first nights, Eve started to have nightmares about her past that she have been trying to forget ever since. Soon she starts to feel that something is wrong inside the house. When one of the children, Edward who has been mute since the death of his parents during the bombings, starts to display unusual behaviors and children end up dying, she deduces that an evil force is at play.
I liked the story of the sequel, by having it take place years apart from the first movie.
I also loved the Edwardian Era setting which adds up to the dark and sad tone of the whole movie. I don't know but I have this penchant for period horror films like The Conjuring. They have this gorgeous vintage look and feel that really adds up to the whole film.

Casting

Phoebe Fox stars as Eve Parkins, a schoolteacher who heads into the countryside town with her schoolchildren and headmistress. She is good as the film's protagonist. Her acting is above the average that you see in genre films like this.

On the other hand, her co-actor Harry Burnstow is also a good counterpart to her. He is also good in acting here, especially in the part where he reveals to Eve that he is not a real pilot for the army but rather a decoy because he can no longer fly a plane.

Helen McCrory adds up to the film's cast as Headmistress Jean Hogg. She gives a beautiful performance as the headmistress whom appears to be a strong woman and always takes control of the situation until she sees the ghost of the Woman in black herself, which traumatizes her.

Another cast member who deserves acknowledgement is Oaklee Pendergast as Edward. He is so amazing in his role as a troubled young boy who is being followed by the Woman in black.

Direction

Tom Harper was successful in filling up the whole movie with an eerie feeling with it's dark and sad tone. The film boasts with chilling atmosphere. Every scene is filled with a sense of dread.
He is also successful with throwing in a lot of jump scares all through out the film.
The only thing that I wanna point out is that the film is short on tension.

There were a lot of points in the movie wherein they could have pushed it a little bit more to add more tension between the characters.
One good example perhaps would be the relationship between Eve and Headmistress Jean. They could have added more conflict between he two of them, with Eve trying to prove to them that the Woman in black exists,while Jean still refusing to believe its existence.

Technical Aspects

This is one of the things that really showed a lot of improvements over the predecessor.
The visual effects of the film is so realistic. The music courtesy of Marco Beltrami is also eerily haunting.
One thing that I would also want to commend is the film's cinematography.

The film is gorgeously shot in every scene. I liked the shots of the marshlands outside the house, especially whenever they are driving down the road along the marsh. Those shots are so stunning to look at and so creepy to watch at the same time.
The only thing that I want to be addressed is the lightning of the film. The film looks beautiful especially during it's scenes under the daylight but there where parts in the film that were set during the night where I cant see anything at all. The best example of this would be the scene where their bus suffers a puncture while travelling through the deserted village on their way to the Eel Marsh House, where Eve is confronted by a raving madman. That scene was so dark that I can't even see what's already happening on that scene.
But aside from this,the film's visuals are pretty good.

Overall

The film is obviously overshadowed by it's predecessor in a lot of aspects,but I must say that The Woman in Black : Angel of Death is one pretty good horror flick. It wills send you chills that will creep through your bones all through out the movie. It's also filled with jump scares here and there so you're going to have a great time watching it with friends who love screaming and kicking.

Some more tension and suspense, plus a better lightning would be nice. But overall , the film definitely give you the creeps.