by Jennifer Drewett
When done right, horror films can be absolute masterpieces that cause a massive sense of terror and fear. Such classic films as Psycho, Shallow Grave and The Exorcist are seen as classics because of their ability to cause such an impact on the audience through sheer terror. From the scary imagery to the more psychological mind games they may play. It’s always a massive shame when horror is done poorly, when things that are supposed to scare us either makes us yawn in boredom or laugh at the absurdity of the thing.
The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death unfortunately lies in the latter category.
When done right, horror films can be absolute masterpieces that cause a massive sense of terror and fear. Such classic films as Psycho, Shallow Grave and The Exorcist are seen as classics because of their ability to cause such an impact on the audience through sheer terror. From the scary imagery to the more psychological mind games they may play. It’s always a massive shame when horror is done poorly, when things that are supposed to scare us either makes us yawn in boredom or laugh at the absurdity of the thing.
The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death unfortunately lies in the latter category.
As a sequel to the successful The Woman In Black, which was adapted from the brilliant play, it was an unnecessary waste of time to begin with. No one really wanted a sequel enough to really warrant it but unfortunately, the need to generate as much money as humanely possible through even the thinnest of pretences for creativity and storytelling is far too great for some. The Woman In Black 2: Angel of Death is set forty years after the original film during World War II. Children that have been evacuated from their homes away from their families take refuge with their teachers, Eve Parkins and Jean Hogg, in an abandoned yet familiar dark house away from civilisation
It’s a shame really - there are some excellent cast in this such as Jeremy Irvine (who some may remember from War Horse and The Railway Man,) Helen McCrory from the final two instalments of the Harry Potter film franchise and upcoming star Phoebe Fox. They are about as good as they can be with a not so particularly fantastic script. It’s not to say that the writing is the absolute worst but it doesn’t feel particularly cohesive or even. The romantic narrative between Eve (played by Fox) and Harry (played by Irvine) felt thrown in as an obligatory move to draw in as many people to the cinema screens as possible. It's also very hard to develop a lot of empathy for the characters’ plights. This film falls into the trap of telling certain things rather than showing them which doesn’t lead to good storytelling.
It’s a shame really - there are some excellent cast in this such as Jeremy Irvine (who some may remember from War Horse and The Railway Man,) Helen McCrory from the final two instalments of the Harry Potter film franchise and upcoming star Phoebe Fox. They are about as good as they can be with a not so particularly fantastic script. It’s not to say that the writing is the absolute worst but it doesn’t feel particularly cohesive or even. The romantic narrative between Eve (played by Fox) and Harry (played by Irvine) felt thrown in as an obligatory move to draw in as many people to the cinema screens as possible. It's also very hard to develop a lot of empathy for the characters’ plights. This film falls into the trap of telling certain things rather than showing them which doesn’t lead to good storytelling.
Speaking of showing too much, the film is, to its credit, quite gory. It depicts the supernaturally-induced demises of more than one child in rather gruesome ways. Some film-makers decide to include the death of children but then presumably get cold feet part-way through the process and end up with a sloppily delivered story arc but this doesn’t happen here. When the house deaths occur, they are pretty graphic without being too gratuitous. Whilst this works, the attempts at effective jump scares don’t. As alluded to before, the jump scare attempts are predictable way before they occur and a couple even lead to a laugh or two for being absurd. The bit that got the most unintentional laughter was when Harry goes to rescue Eve towards the film’s climax and he dives into the lake in a rather dramatic fashion. For some reason it brought back memories of the infamous lake scene from the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Recently spotted was a promotional film poster for the release of this film with a quote that said “You won’t sleep for weeks.” It can be rest assured that this reviewer slept rather well after viewing The Woman In Black 2: Angel of Death and anyone else viewing it probably will too. If you’re really keen to see the Woman In Black strike again, go and see the film but it’s not a must-see by any standards.
The Woman In Black: Angel of Death is out January 1st
Recently spotted was a promotional film poster for the release of this film with a quote that said “You won’t sleep for weeks.” It can be rest assured that this reviewer slept rather well after viewing The Woman In Black 2: Angel of Death and anyone else viewing it probably will too. If you’re really keen to see the Woman In Black strike again, go and see the film but it’s not a must-see by any standards.
The Woman In Black: Angel of Death is out January 1st
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