As ghost stories go, this one is pretty good.
The story isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, but the way it is told gives it a nice fresh feeling.
Fans of movies like Paranormal Activity will get their fair share of “BOO!” moments throughout the entire film. It took every chance it got to make the audience jerk and jump with fast sounds and creepy shots.
So if you are the type to scream at every frightening moment, get ready to be “that person” in the theatre.
Daniel Radcliffe did a fair job in this movie, at beginning of the film I kept expecting him to pull out his wand and scream, “EXPECTO PARTONUM!”, but after a while, you get so into his acting that you can shake off that feeling, a true testament to his acting skills.
Radcliffe acquits himself well as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer in early 20th century England who is still haunted by the death of his wife, in childbirth, four years ago.
With a young boy to raise, he is desperate to prove himself to his employer, and takes on a thankless assignment, traveling to a small village and then to an even more remote old mansion outside of town just to go through a dead woman’s voluminous papers.
Upon arriving in the small town, it is aware that he is not welcome. Being intent on completing his job he pushes on and is greeted with hostility and local superstitions involving a ghostly woman in black (hint hint) and an alarming number of dead children.
The only friendly people he meets in this cold and dreary town, is a wealthy couple (Ciarán Hinds and Janet McTeer), and even they have a sad back story to tell.
Kipps finally gets to the house and begins to unravel a hunting story about a woman and her lost child, who swears she will, “Never forgive”.
Slowly, children in the town start to die in bizarre “suicides” and “accidents”, and it gives Kipps even more reason to solve this plague that has ascended onto this quiet town.
So what’s behind all these deaths, and can Radcliffe unlock the mystery in time to avoid even more tragedy in that spooky old house?
If you care enough to find out, and are exceedingly patient, you’ll learn the answer.
The movie didn’t have much of a soundtrack other than an eerie undertone that sets the mood and helps play the jump factor.
It also had a lack of major dialogue, and let action tell the tale of this ghost story.
The screenplay, based on a novel of the same name by Susan Hill, does tie everything together in a bittersweet but fitting finale.
Director James Watkins wrings every drop out of the endless scare set-ups and payoffs.
And Radcliffe, who is called upon to stay tightly coiled for most of the duration, does a thoroughly capable job.
I give the film 3 scares out of 5.
