Writer: Jon Croker, from a story by Susan Hill
Starring: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, Ned Dennehy, Oaklee Pendergast
Cert: 15
Running Time: 98 mins
Special Features: Deleted Scene / Featurettes / Jeremy Irvine: “Great Expectations” interview
For many years British horror brand Hammer Films lay seemingly dormant, its blood curdled and its back catalogue of famous monsters consigned to nostalgia territory. However today the studio coffin is open for business, down in no small part to the success of 2012’s The Woman In Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe. Using the classic novella by Susan Hill as a starting point, it was the perfect Gothic chiller with which to help revive their fortunes.
Of course Hammer were never ones to shy away from a sequel, and just as the late, great Christopher Lee put in numerous appearances as Dracula, so the ghostly “heroine” has been resurrected for The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death. She’s the only principal character to return for this instalment, though Hill has supplied the story. Flashing forward a couple of decades to World War II, the action follows a group of schoolchildren who are evacuated to the creaky isolation of Eel Marsh House, familiar to watchers of the first film.
Director Tom Harper and writer Jon Croker adopt a decidedly Spanish air, calling to mind the likes of The Others as the kids try and settle in against the backdrop of impending destruction. The true spectre of death is that of the bombings they are seeking to escape. Indeed, we’re introduced to Phoebe Fox‘s central character, teacher Eve, in a London Underground shelter. This context is the best thing about the movie, which benefits from a strong set up but sadly falls apart due to a lack of development in the scare department.
Harper manages some reasonable jolts, but on the whole the tale goes through the motions. This sort of thing is meat and drink to Hammer, but maybe the laurels have been a bit too rested on. The look of the film, as you’d expect, is strong but certain scenes require a lot of squinting owing to dinginess and some interiors appear decidedly set-bound. The triangle of terror between the “WIB”, Eve and a mute survivor – young Oaklee Pendergast – is strangely sketchy, as if key scenes have been removed (a deleted scene in the special features section adds little). Generally the audience are expected to remember too much from the original.
Fox makes a decent lead, embodying the plucky attributes of a woman of wartime without becoming bland or saccharine. She also has good support from Jeremy Irvine as the requisite haunted airman Harry and Helen McCrory as headmistress Jean. Crucially however, the title character is notable by her absence. Harper and Croker wisely resist the urge to turn her into a gimmicky shockstress, yet surely the creation deserves better than the fleeting cameo she makes here.
The production gets top marks for trying to do something a bit different, whilst not straying too far from the source material. Despite these efforts, the project is on the anaemic side, when it should have been full-blooded.
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death is available to purchase now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Steve is a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. His short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
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