The Woman in Black (2012)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Traditional to a fault, The Woman in Black foregoes gore for chills -- although it may not provide enough of them for viewers attuned to more modern, high-stakes horror.
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Cast
as Arthur Kipps
as Samuel Daily
as Mrs. Daily
as Fisher
as Jennet Humfrye
as PC Collins
as Stella Kipps
as Bentley
as Joseph Kipps
as Nanny
as Nursemaid
as Little Girl on Train
as Doctor
as Mrs. Fisher
as Victoria Hardy
as Tom Hardy
as Fisher Girl
as Fisher Girl
as Charlie Hardy
as Gerald Hardy
as Mrs. Jerome
as Mr. Jerome
as Doctor
as Keckwick
as Mrs. Drablow
as Nathaniel Drablow
as Lucy Jerome
as Nicholas Daily
as Fisher Girl
as Fisher Girl
as Fisher Girl
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Critic Reviews for The Woman in Black
All Critics (179) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (60) | DVD (3)
The moody, beautifully composed production raises it above the norm.
It takes quite a time before the pieces of a poisonous puzzle appear, and when they do, they don't always fall into place with clarity.
'The Woman in Black' is old-fashioned, ornate, imposing, occasionally creaky - and possessed of more than a few enjoyably nasty surprises.
The star's job description is that he be able to react convincingly to a variety of supernatural events and to endure being covered in mud. He has difficulty with neither.
Haunted house movies basically live and die by their atmospherics and by the consequences to those poor mortals who come too close to the premises, and The Woman in Black delivers on both counts.
The Woman in Black is your standard-issue ghost story, gussied up in period garb to make it look like a prestige picture.
Audience Reviews for The Woman in Black
Really didn't expect to like this, but I did. Really creepy once it gets going and I loved the ending.
Super Reviewer
Nicely old-fashioned, beautifully shot and with quite a few goosebump inducing scenes. Only the ending falls a bit short.
Super Reviewer
This is a CBS film, and a Hammer Film production. That should already tell you everything you need to know about the quality of this supposedly gothic horror film. The effects are horrible in this film, whether it's the obvious green screen driving scenes, the bad after effects fog in the beginning, or the ghostly effects, which look atrocious. There is no logic in this film whatsoever. There's a terrible secret in a small English town, and when solicitor Kipps (Radcliffe) goes there, his actual presence could threaten lives. Does anyone tell him the terrible secret and save people's lives? No, because....? Then there's the scenes when Kipps is in this old, haunted mansion doing paperwork, and he repeatedly does stupid things. He sees a face in the window, and he goes to that window. He sees a creepy image at the front door from the upstairs window, and then opens the door. Every character is idiotic in their choices. There's no backstory except for the one that Kipps unearths in the house. We don't learn about the family's relationship, who Jennet really is or what she wants in the afterlife, and nothing gets answered. There's no logic, and there's no answers. There's constant jump scares, which is the only element of the film that's actually scary. These jump scares are never well done either, because most of them don't even include the ghostly presence of the woman in black. There's literally a jump scare every two minutes in this film, and you're always aware they are going to occur. The ending, in the midst of a lack of logic, also makes no sense and simply ends without explanation. This entire film is one big let-down, and if it doesn't endlessly frustrate you, then you must be a saint.
Super Reviewer
The Woman in Black Quotes
| Mr. Daily: | Don't go chasing shadows Aurther... |
| Jennet: | Never forgive. Never forgive. Never forgive.... |
| Jennet: | Never forgive. Never forgive. Never forgive... |
| Mrs. Daily: | She makes us, she makes us do it. She makes us! They took her boy away so now she takes us. |
| Mrs. Daily: | He wants to draw a picture for you now |
| Mrs. Daily: | He wants to draw a picture for you now. |
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