Ventured from the graveyard today to investigate this new horror movie based off the first installment that was released in 2012. While the first wasn't accepted by many as an amazing film, I found it to be a delightful romp down a suspenseful maze full of fog and mysteries. Daniel Radcliffe spends the film exploring the haunted house and visiting with the townsfolk, who are fearful of this seemingly all-powerful spirit that seeks vengeance upon any who would see her by slaying a child.
Somewhat a low blow, but this is the spirit of a woman committed to an insane asylum for trying to claim her son as her own, only to find out that her son died before she could reach him.
Now comes the sequel, set during World War Two during the bombing of Britain. Two matrons of an orphanage take a group of children out to the countryside to avoid being stuck in London during the bombings. They, of course, choose this abandoned manor out in the middle of a marsh as the perfect place to hole up. Now things start up early on with one of the little boys walking out into the marshes and dying due to drowning. Another little girl tries to kill herself with yarn, of all things, before succeeding with a gas mask that must not have had a filter or something. A former pilot who is in charge of a dummy airfield brings the rest of the children there at the request of the protagonist, who has seen the spirit twice (with the resulting two dead children).
Now, this story tries to ram the plot of the first one down our throats in a ham-fisted exposition delivered by a letter found in a former solicitors office where a blind lunatic rambles about the ghost of the old woman and how he's evaded her by allowing himself to lose his eyesight.
The rest of the plot is held together through a trail of red yarn going from one event to another, where great leaps of logic are made in order to push the plot further. A young boy by the name of Edward is targeted by the Woman in Black, who kidnaps him from the airfield (leaving a shoe near an area where an explosion occurred). By staring at a drawing done by the first child to die, the protagonist determines that young Edward is indeed alive (despite the evidence to the contrary) and steals a military jeep to drive to the haunted house.
The last thirty minutes are nothing but sudden shock thrills and a slow boil of suspense that never seems to come to fruition. A gaping plot hole saves Edward and the protagonist to bring about a weak ending that doesn't really answer any questions that were brought up during the movie. Why is it necessary for the protagonist to have had a child that was taken from her? How did she know the rhyme that Edward's dead mother used to say apparently so often that it snaps him free of the evil spirit's spell.
I would rate this as a three out of ten, granting it three points due to the decent acting, cool cinematography and amazing scenery. Take some time when this is on Netflix and check this one out, but don't waste your money while it's in theaters.
Somewhat a low blow, but this is the spirit of a woman committed to an insane asylum for trying to claim her son as her own, only to find out that her son died before she could reach him.
Now comes the sequel, set during World War Two during the bombing of Britain. Two matrons of an orphanage take a group of children out to the countryside to avoid being stuck in London during the bombings. They, of course, choose this abandoned manor out in the middle of a marsh as the perfect place to hole up. Now things start up early on with one of the little boys walking out into the marshes and dying due to drowning. Another little girl tries to kill herself with yarn, of all things, before succeeding with a gas mask that must not have had a filter or something. A former pilot who is in charge of a dummy airfield brings the rest of the children there at the request of the protagonist, who has seen the spirit twice (with the resulting two dead children).
Now, this story tries to ram the plot of the first one down our throats in a ham-fisted exposition delivered by a letter found in a former solicitors office where a blind lunatic rambles about the ghost of the old woman and how he's evaded her by allowing himself to lose his eyesight.
The rest of the plot is held together through a trail of red yarn going from one event to another, where great leaps of logic are made in order to push the plot further. A young boy by the name of Edward is targeted by the Woman in Black, who kidnaps him from the airfield (leaving a shoe near an area where an explosion occurred). By staring at a drawing done by the first child to die, the protagonist determines that young Edward is indeed alive (despite the evidence to the contrary) and steals a military jeep to drive to the haunted house.
The last thirty minutes are nothing but sudden shock thrills and a slow boil of suspense that never seems to come to fruition. A gaping plot hole saves Edward and the protagonist to bring about a weak ending that doesn't really answer any questions that were brought up during the movie. Why is it necessary for the protagonist to have had a child that was taken from her? How did she know the rhyme that Edward's dead mother used to say apparently so often that it snaps him free of the evil spirit's spell.
I would rate this as a three out of ten, granting it three points due to the decent acting, cool cinematography and amazing scenery. Take some time when this is on Netflix and check this one out, but don't waste your money while it's in theaters.
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