The Woman in Black - Personal Movie Review

The Woman in Black - Film Review

Film Title: The Woman in Black

Year of Production: 2012

Genre/Genres: Horror

Director: James Watkins

Brief Plot and Outline

When Mr.Kipps is struggling with his job as a lawyer, after the death of his wife, he is sent to remote village to settle the estate of a deceased woman. The villagers try to make Mr.Kipps leave to conceal the secret of the village. Mr.Kipps soon discovers that the house he is visiting is haunted by a woman dressed in black.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?

The first scene which impressed me was when Mr.Kipps is first exploring the house (creepy location). The audience is introduced to an old, abandoned bedroom which is showered in children’s toys. This is the same bedroom which is in the opening scene when the three little girls jumped out of the window and killed themselves. I liked this scene because of how it linked to the death of the three girls. He other scene I liked was when we see the woman in black standing next to Mr.Kipps in the bedroom window, but Mr.Kipps doesn’t. I liked this scene because it created suspense and tension by the way that a slow montage was being used.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?

But watching this film “The Woman in Black” it has helped me realise what it takes to make a good horror. “The Woman in Black” created suspense and tension in a number of places, making the viewer interested and gripped to the film. The features I spotted of the genre checklist in this film included… restricted narration when a women is heard screaming but isn’t seen in the shot. The creepy location in this film is the large house with a graveyard outside of it. Throughout the film there was a lot of parallel music to add to the tension of the film. The character and representations I spotted in this film is the psycho serial killer and possibly a slow moving monster, both represented by the woman in black. The themes which I spotted in this film are loneliness because the woman in black is trying to be reunited with her dead son. I also spotted fear of death, because Mr.Kipps towards the end of the film has a fear that his son will be the next child who is killed. The film in some ways has an unhappy ending because both Mr.Kipps and his son die, but it’s happy because they are reunited with Mrs.Kipps. The film also has an opening ending when we see the woman in black standing in a dark place which suggests there is going to be a sequel to the film.

 

 

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?       

In my own trailer, the aspects of film “The Women In Black” I would mainly include the build-up which was created when Mr.Kipps was exploring the house. I liked this aspect because it kept me interested in this particular scene which was due to the slow montage and low key lighting. I also thought the parallel music which was heard the majority of the time helped with each scene to make to make it more mysterious, and make the audience wait for something to happen. I also thought the point of view shots worked well because it made the audience feel like they were the woman in black sneaking up to Mr.Kipps from behind. This aspect makes the audience feel uncomfortable because in some ways they are acting as the murderer. I also liked the aspect of going quiet in the scene to loud for example when the crow flew through the window. The crow representing death makes the audience more aware of the scene and makes them think there is going to be a death taken place. 

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why?
There aren’t really any aspects I would try to avoid. I thought the flow of the film worked well as it didn’t drag scenes out and ever making the audience bored as they were watching the film. I thought the film also had continuous scenes which made people jump.

What were the best aspect / more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? Why?

I think the most enjoyable part of the film for me was when Mr.Kipps was exploring the house and we (the audience) kept seeing the scary black figure in the distance, for example when the woman’s hand appeared as a shadow on the back of Mr.Kipps’ shoulder creating suspense as the viewer didn’t know what was going to happen. I think this aspect is doable for me to recreate in my own horror trailer.   

How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context?

The woman in black represents the current popularity of the 15 rated horror films. Despite the fact that a lot of people are saying horror has become “torture porn” there has been a lot of successful 12 and 15 rated horror films. These films don’t rely on body horror, but instead rely on being very jumpy, for example “insidious” and “sinister” made loads of money and pretty much have no body horror shown in them.  The woman in black was a very successful film financially but relied on making the audience jump. In an interview the director James Watkins said he aimed to make a “Proper, classy, scary, ghost film” and stated that “It’s not about gore it’s not about violence and if it can play on peoples fear and imagination and really get under your skin with some jumps and some jolts, but that real creepy sense of dread that stays with you” showing that a Horror film doesn’t need to contain body horror to make it scary.