Lexi Letterman
Lantern Staff
Halloween is right around the corner and this time of year, everyone is looking for their next thrill or scare. If this description fits you, then you may want to watch The Woman in Black.
The Woman in Black is the story of a lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), set in the early 20th century. He is told by his firm that he needs to collect papers belonging to a deceased woman, Mrs. Drablow (Alisa Khazanova), so that her affairs are handled correctly. If he should fail at doing, so he will no longer have a job. When he arrives, however, he finds himself in the middle of some very intriguing circumstances, as children in the village keep dying. All of a sudden though, the villagers blame him. As he continues to go through Mrs. Drablow’s paperwork and learn more about her, things seem to only get worse, and he finds himself in the middle of a supernatural battle that started long before he came to the small town of Crythin Gifford.
A woman named Jennette (Liz White) had exchanged many letters with her sister, Alice Drablow. Alice had her sister Jennette deemed mentally unfit to care for her child and had taken the little boy and adopted him. However, the little boy ends up dying by drowning in an accident, which enrages Jennette and she vows revenge on her sister. This feud between the sisters ends up threatening Arthur Kipp’s livelihood and the livelihood of his son, Joseph (Misha Handley), who is set to come visit him for the weekend.
The Woman in Black has something worth watching for most horror-movie fans, with the graphic and overwhelming depiction of the death of many children. The plot-line features supernatural elements, but these elements are only there to serve a larger theme of family that does manage to be realistic. This makes the movie more than just another paranormal movie full of jump scares. Typically, these movies have very predictable endings, the kind that leave movie goers with questions or are meant to scare them into having nightmares for weeks to come. Without giving too much away, this is not the case with The Woman in Black. The ending of this movie manages to be heartwarming while leaving the viewer haunted and with many questions.
The movie is available to stream through Amazon Prime, and I found it to be worth the watch. Overall I would give it an 8/10 rating.