The Woman In Black

I'm going to keep this relatively spoiler-free, but I really don't think there were any twists worthy of spoilage anyway.  I'm not sure why this movie is getting such good reviews.  It didn't totally suck, but it didn't break any new ground either. Radcliffe does a great job, and the movie is directed well, but overall there's just nothing to write home about.

In The Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe plays a financially-troubled lawyer named Arthur Kipps, who is sent to a small town to handle an estate.  Of course, everyone in town knows his presence is going to piss off the local ghost.  But as usual, instead of actually telling Kipps why they hate him, they just glare at him through windows and try to thwart his attempts to find a place to stay.  Granted, Kipps wouldn't have believed them if they had been honest, but that's not the point.  What bothers me the artificial tension generated by doling out exposition one morsel at a time.  If this many townsfolk want him to leave town that badly, it seems like at least one of them would consider confronting him with the truth, even if they risk looking crazy.  The reason they don't has nothing to do with the plot, but rather the writer's attempts to create drama through careful dispersal of information. 

Anyway, there's nothing here you haven't seen before.  As a horror movie, it's more spooky than scary.  Several times you see the titular shadowy spirit floating around behind Kipps, almost to the point where you get used to her.  It has a lot of sudden surprises, with things jumping out unexpectedly.  If you've seen more than three scary movies in your life, you will always know when something is about to happen.  I mean, it's usually so obvious that they could have flashed "Jump Scare Coming" on the screen.  You'll see Radcliffe step back, leaving 75% of the screen free to make room for whatever is about to appear.  The soundtrack will then get quiet so as not to interfere with the upcoming Scare Chord.  You won't necessarily know what was about to jump out and yell "Boo", but you will know in plenty of time that something is coming.

To me, ghost movies often seem like they're easy to write, because the writers never seem to think much about the ghost's motivation.  Everything they do is designed to scare the audience more than the characters.  They will often jump out at times that don't make sense plot-wise, and expend energy appearing in the background where none of the characters actually see them.  They'll knock on doors and rattle knobs even though they've had no problem passing through walls in other scenes.  At times they act like mindless animals, tormenting the protagonists who are trying to help the ghosts by laying their bones to rest.  They're powerful enough to kill the characters whenever they want, but they prefer to play with their food instead. 

Anyway, I wouldn't call the movie a complete waste of time, but I really can't think of anything good to say about it.  If you've already seen a ghost movie this lifetime, then you've pretty much seen this one.  One warning to the sensitive - this movie is cruel to children.  Most of the victims in this movie are young kids, so if that sort of thing bothers you, that's one more reason to give this one a pass.