I celebrated Easter Monday by going to see The Woman In Black. Good grief, that’s as scared as I ever want to be in a cinema! The interesting thing is that’s there’s no gore, no revolting sights, just good old fashioned creaky chairs and the sense of Something behind every door.
Lucy, Elspeth and myself spent the entire film wrapped round each other trying not to go Eek! The director says it’s his attempt to revive the old Hammer Horror genre (of which I have very fond memories) but I can’t honestly remember Hammer Horrors ever as being as scary as this. The great thing is that there’s a lot of hoary old clichés in the film, such as the Old Deserted House in the marshes, a hero who will insist on investigating noises (instead of prudently ducking underneath the bed-covers) an unfinished story that needs completion – all of which could die the death because we’ve seen them so many times before. Believe you me, all the elements spring into vivid life and it all adds up to a really nerve-wracking film.
I do wonder, though, if it’s a bit too nerve-wracking. The wonderful old Dracula films with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee touch a very soft spot with a lot of people my age and the conventions they set up (such as no matter how many times Van Helsing sees off Dracula, he’ll find a way of popping back) are oddly endearing. Terry Pratchett’s vampire, Otto, owes a lot to the daft conventions of the Dracula films. Otto is a photographer for the Ankh-Morpork Times and every time his flashgun goes off, he disintegrates into a pile of dust, to be revived as the little vial of blood he carries round his neck hits the ground and smashes.
I can’t think of laughing lightly at The Woman In Black. But it’s really good.
Had you read the book before seeing the movie? I was disappointed in that respect, because I much preferred the book's powerful ending-- though I was 98% sure that they wouldn't dare use it in the movie. On the other hand, I loved the way the moody film captured the moody writing. The use of the old toys, that incredible house, the lighting, the whole FEEL was just marvelous and much more my kind of horror story: light on gore, heavy on psychology.
ReplyDelete(I did a review of the book about a year or so ago, and I think it is the most viewed blogpost I've ever done, and probably will remain the champ. That book has quiet staying power, and it's seems to be one of those that people want to discuss immediately after reading.)
Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteNow, I hadn't read the book or seen the play. Daughter Elspeth, who has both seen the play and read the book thought the film was great. LIke you, I loved the way the suspense was built up, not by CGI or gore, but simple stuff like creaking furniture. Very effective and very scary.