The Woman in Black (2012) Review
THE WOMAN IN BLACK: A REVIEW
The star of the film is young Daniel Radcliffe. He plays a man named Arthur Kipps. He heads to a village where fear has a tight grip. The owner of the house holds a dark past; he must figure out what it is quite fast. For if he is unable to uncover the truth of the House on the marsh, his ending to this story, will be quite harsh. Will the movie have a happy end? Not all movies have to end that way my friend.
THE CHARACTERS
Daniel, Misha, and Hinds are memorable. The rest are forgettable. Now this is just wrong. Characters in movies like this should be strong.
ARTHUR KIPPS - portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe. Kipps is a young lawyer and widower, someone who lost his wife. He has a four year old son named Joseph whom he loves dearly. He is solemn, and quiet. However, he seems to be more than willing to help try and save the townspeople's children from this deadly specter. Radcliffe does a wonderful job with this role of a young father and lawyer. However at times you can clearly see that Daniel is expressionless where there SHOULD be emotion. Lots of it. Even if you’re in shock something other than blank nothingness would work. You care about his character, and feel immensely sorry for his great loss. And you sort of understand that pain he is going through in trying to move on from the death of his wife.
JOSEPH KIPPS -
portrayed by Misha Handley. You can tell right away that for a four year old,
Arthur's son is quite sharp. Always noticing how sad his father is, when he
wants him to be happy. He's a sweet boy, very likable character right from the
start. Yet he is rather sick, and you can't help but feel a sense of foreboding
when it comes to just how long the boy will live.
SAM DAILY -
Portrayed by Ciaran Hinds. Arthur meets this logical and rational landowner
aboard the train headed to the village. The become good friends, and thus Sam
is Arthur's ONLY good friend in the small town. Well Sam and his wife. It is
revealed that Sam also lost his young boy "accidentally" due to
drowning in the ocean before the movie's events. He is a friendly, charming
man, and also a likable character as well.
MRS. DAILY -
Portrayed by Janet McTeer. The estranged wife of Sam Daily. She never truly got
over the death of her son, and she is portrayed as a frail weak character. However, she provides some comic relief as well.
JENNET HUMFRYE -
Portrayed by Liz White. The cursed and vengeful "Woman in Black". She is always seen wearing a black dress, a
black veil, and a black hat. She is also decayed as well. Whenever she is seen, something horrible happens to the children in the town. The end of the movie,
while you feel for her loss, makes you realize that she is just a BITCH. Or
maybe it was just me who thought that.
THE MUSIC:
When in silence, fear reigns supreme. Those are the scenes that make you scream. The scenes with music are pretty good as well, they build and build until the entire audience yells. Overall the music is nice; it's eerie, beautiful, and very precise.
THE SETTING
The setting takes place in the Edwardian era. The Eel Marsh
House has the generic "creepy haunted house" look. It's big, old,
rundown, dimly lit by candles and lanterns, and small lights, to add to the
eerie effect, and has chandeliers as you walk in the door, it also has the
"see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil" monkeys visible as you walk
in as well. One room is particularly important; the room with a rocking chair.
The feel of the overall town is good; definitely has that "cut off from
the world" feel of a much older town.
THE OVERVIEW
Overall, this is a well-done supernatural psychological thriller horror. A good classic horror/ghost story. One of the best I've seen. The ending is very bittersweet, and while some could see it coming a mile away, it was still a good way to end the film. The plot is fun, well paced, and while you could predict when something was gonna happen for some scenes, for others, you had no IDEA what was coming. Daniel does just fine (even if he's a little young for his part) but rest of the cast, save for Daily and his son are just forgettable as Hell. The special effects are wonderfully done, and the overall movie is great to watch. And there are some genuinely creepy scenes in this movie. LOTS of jump scares. While the ending makes you either whimper in sadness, or filled with anger at the Woman in Black. To some, the movie may be a complete bore. And others may have a hard time picturing Radcliffe portraying someone OTHER than Harry Potter. OPEN YOUR MINDS. To others, it's the perfect setting to the perfect horror movie.
OVERALL RATING – 8.5/10
From start to finish your hairs will stand on end. That's why I rate it 8.5 out of 10. Don't take my word for it; see the scariest movie of the year. It will leave you trembling in fear.
Well that's my first movie review. I hope you like it as much as I do. This is MovieMadnessMaster, with 1 more thing to say; can you tell me if I did okay?
Comments
Thanks for the comment. It's my first review, so yeah I need improvement. I was inspired to do the rhyming specially for this review by the teaser trailer rhyme. SUPER creepy. Even the opening scene had me and my friend looking at each other like "Holy SHIT!" 
LOL. Oh Dear Lord don't even mention Kristen SHITwart. GOD. She's about as bad as Shia LaBitchshit. You don't need to scream and complain and whine and-and whisper every other line. You really don't. UGH! Why you would have your lead actor go from cool (1st movie) and someone we can relate to (kinda) to fuckin' annoying (2nd and 3rd movie) is beyond me...lol.
Oh don't get me started with Shia. Personally I've never liked him in the first movie, then again, me going into...those movies is a bad idea. To sum it up:I will go on for hours about it.
I have actually just finished my own review on this (it's still waiting approval :/). You review is great, feels very condensed and flowing. I tend to have a problem of having my waffle on or get too repeated...I'm thinking of having a word limit on next reviews LOL 
Anyway, I kind of have differences of opinions about the movie. Visually it looks absolutely stunning and really plays homage and adds some authority to the general bleakness and creepiness of the film. The landscapes, buildings and set just feels like I have been thrown in a Tim Burton(esc) Edwardian place, beautifully Gothic and dark. The scares feels too structured and predictable at the first half and the jump scares feels overused but it gets stronger in the next half.
However, I do have some major problems with this. I did not felt convinced from Radcliffe's acting. I have noticed this in Harry Potter but thought this film that showcase his true ability but he is very emotionless actor and falls to carry emotions in scenes. He failed to carry for me any sentimentality in the film about his own bereavement of his wife and in many scenes cannot carry any emotional dialogue. I also felt around under actors he looks very stiff in his performance and wooden, he lacked any fluency. The film in general fails to establish characters in the film.
Also I did not find the characters journey and experience suiting in a horror film. For me what defines a good horror film is the sudden transformation of characters psychology and personality as they go from strong individuals into drained, weak and vulnerable. I felt the whole dead wife thing already drains and shatters that individual and to have him go through some haunting experiences of an already shattered person does nothing for me.
Anyway, I would love a rebuttal from you if you have got time....we might have the next Siskel and Ebert :P
p.s. is this your first review and will you be doing more because I did enjoy reading with different opinions aside
Thanks for the comment. OMG! I know! Radcliffe's expressionless-ness had me riled up during the whole movie! Yes I will be doing much more reviews when I get the time. Working on a HP Deathly Hallows Part 2 review. In that one I'm gonna work on my humor writing.
The setting also reminded me of Burton's Sleepy Hollow. That's what I immediately thought when I saw the town. I don't know bout you, but the ending PISSED ME OFF at first. Then i was like "Oh, he's all happy. I guess that's nice." I always like seeing Daniel smile. I also just LOVE his accent, lol.
LOL....its a piety we cant webcam on here because you will probably fall to your knees with my British accent lol (because I'm so not boastful lol)....nah, mines more like the broad common "northern" accent...nothing that rubs to Daniel Radcliffe's lol.
Yeah, I felt really disappointed with the ending. It didn't execute well and like I said I think it was really conflicting on it's plot but the ending really made it soar but its the trick of the trade of most horror and tbh most movies in general. Always tie up with a nice happy ending...they must think the audience can't take sad endings but I like to think we are bit more mature with that.
p.s. sorry if I don't reply straight away...blame our awkward time differences :P
I must admit, this is good review. Your method of breaking down the movie is different, but it gets the job done. Now that I have said that, I would like point out a few things for the sake of discussion.
Anyways, nice job on the review. I think there is a little room for improvement, but it is the step in the right direction. Keep it up.