James Watkins's The Woman in Black was released in the movie box office on February 3, 2012. Since the AMC 16 movie theater in Burbank features a $6 movie admission on first showings, I decided to watch The Woman in Black to write a movie review on Metaphysical Movies. The movie theater was rather busy for a Saturday 11:35 am showing. Horror movie fans appeared ready to watch a good horror flick starring former Harry Potter lead star Daniel Radcliffe.
Three small girls play tea party with their dolls. All of sudden, the girls fall into a trance. They step on their tea set, walking in the direction of the three window partitions. The girls simultaneously open the window latches, and then jump to their death. A woman's voice screams in shock to the dead girls.
Our favorite Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a lawyer that is trying to rebound after his wife passed away four years prior. He imagines his late wife in a mind flash. Arthur's young son Joseph (played by Misha Handley) draws a picture of farther, housekeeper and his mother as an Angel in Heaven.
Arthur accepts a legal position to read important documents in a distant home in Northern England. this professional opportunity represents his last chance to redeem himself with his law firm. In the train ride, Arthur meets Mr. Daily (Ciaran Hinds), rich businessman traveling back home. As a result, the two men hold a formal discussion.
Mr. Daily drives Arthur in a rainy storm to a local hotel. You sense there is something obviously wrong when the innkeeper refuses to give Arthur a room. However, the innkeeper's wife refuses to send Arthur out into the rain again. She shows him to an attic room, the same setting shown in the opening scene with the three girls committing suicide.
We later learn that there is a woman in black that lost her son in a carriage accident. She commits suicide shortly after, but holds any parent accountable to his son's death. The woman in black is capable of brainwashing a child to commit suicide. It is an eerie move theme to watch children kill themselves freely without showing any fear whatsoever.
The Woman in Black is a metaphysical movie about a supernatural force carrying out a vengeance. The female spirit will never forgive the death of her son. Arthur assumes that reuniting the women in black with the body of her deceased son can break the superstitious curse plaguing the small town. Mr. Daily also lost his son in a drowning accident. He refuses to believe in shadows and ghosts.
In the end, Mr. Daily changes his stance after seeing his son appear in the haunted estate. Arthur thinks that giving the deceased woman her son will save his own son. The movie ending is one of the best in recent time. We find resolution in the movie theme to realize that a dark outcome is indeed positive closure to a broken family.
The Woman in Black is an well written metaphysical/ghost movie with a hint of horror to entertain horror movie fans. The moviegoer will become confused in the beginning, but then learns more about the backstory through the death of children, seeing the dead woman in black, reading notes and cards with underlying clues, and watching two girls die in brutal ways.
If you enjoy astral horror movies, James Watkins'sThe Women in Black movie is an excellent watch. Daniel Radcliffe moves past his Harry Potter days to lead this metaphysical/ghost movie with many similarities to The Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, and The Grudge. The moviegoer will leave the movie theater with a renewed interest in good horror movies with a great movie ending.
