THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH (2014)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Phoebe Fox, Oaklee Pendergast
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror and Disturbing Images)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: http://www.hammerfilms.com/ourwork/77/the-woman-in-black-angel-of-death

Opening Day: 15 January 2015

Synopsis:  As bombs rain down on London during the Blitz of World War II, a group of school children are evacuated with Eve, their young and beautiful school teacher, to the safety of the English countryside. Taken to an old and empty estate, cut-off by a causeway from the mainland, they are left at Eel Marsh House. One by one the children begin acting strangely and Eve, with the help of local military commander Harry, discovers that the group has awoken a dark force even more terrifying and evil than the city’s air raids. Eve must now confront her own demons to save the children and survive THE WOMAN IN BLACK.

Movie Review:

When The Woman in Black was released in 2012, people were eager to find out how everyone's favourite boy wizard from Hogwarts would fare in a horror movie. People flocked to the cinemas, making the James Watkins directed film the highest grossing British horror movie in 20 years. As of June that year, the production already took home more than $127 million worldwide. Not bad for a movie based on a novel of the same name (by Susan Hill) which had nothing fanciful to boast about except its leading man Daniel Radcliffe (the all grown up young man has gone on to play the Devil in last year's Horns).

So it makes perfect sense to churn out a sequel which has no direct link to the first story except for the titular Woman in Black, of course. Tom Harper (The Borrowers, Peaky Blinders) takes over the director's chair and helms this lackluster sequel which, yes you've guessed it, does not have Radcliffe's involvement.

The victims of the vengeful Angel of Death this time round are a group of orphaned school children. When bombs begin falling on London during the Blitz of World War II, two women evacuate the kids to the countryside town of Crythin Gifford. They are eventually taken to the Eel Marsh House where Radcliffe's lawyer character was haunted in the first movie. As you would expect, strange things begin happening. Supernatural occurrences are littered throughout the film, and you get of sudden scares, wide eyed kids and scarily made up faces.

These are things that do not send chills down you spines in this day and age (you can probably tell how scary this movie is by its PG13 rating). The filmmakers know better than to take recycled ideas, turning them into half hearted scares which have the unfortunate effect of dragging the film's already slow pace further. Given that the listed runtime of the movie is 98 minutes, you may end up fidgeting in your seats because of the sheer dreariness of the production, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere in its meddling development.

It sure doesn't help that we in this part of the world are not familiar with stars like Phoebe Fox and Helen McCrory, who play the two kind women who escort the kids to the countryside. Some viewers may remember seeing Jeremy Irvine in 2011's War Horse and 2013's The Railway Man. Irvine plays a dashing pilot who is stationed at an airfield near the countryside. Let's just say this character isn't anything that would particularly stick in our minds once the credits start rolling.

Credit has to be given to the art direction though, because one cannot deny that the film looks good. Cinematographer George Steel brings a looming feel (sometimes more looming than it should be) to the movie, and the sets are atmospherically created to evoke a sense of dread. The score by Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts and Marcus Trumpp are also creepily played out, though unmemorable as it may be. The result is a far from superior horror movie that is better off played at home on a boring weekend afternoon.

Movie Rating:

( A dull and dreary horror sequel that will only interest viewers who are mega fans of the first movie (you do know that Harry Potter is not in this one, right?)

Review by John Li