The movie belongs to the genre of the horror movies of the 60s, where there is haunted mansion, paranormal activities, candles, graves and a incessantly barking dog. Daniel Radcliffe plays the role of Arthur Kipps, a father whose wife passes away during the the birth of their son. He sees a mysterious woman in black who keeps appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. The children of the village are made to commit suicide by the woman in black as a revenge for her own child being taken away from her in the past. Arthur refuses to believe the villagers and rubbishes them as their superstitions until he goes to the mansion which is forbidden by the villagers and experiences paranormal activities. The film revolves around Arthur's spine chilling encounters with the ghost and his discoveries about the past of the people who once existed in the haunted mansion.
In his first outing after the Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe gives a tour de force performance and is convincing as a widowed lawyer. Albeit too young to play a father, Radcliffe brings a certain amount of maturity and credibility to his role despite his approach to the character remaining the same as Harry's. The streak of similarity between the character of Harry and Arthur is in their courage and curiosity. As someone who has seen all the Potter movies umpteen times, I missed watching the Emma Watson and Rupert Grint alongside Daniel Radcliffe.
The woman in black remains a mystery and nothing about her past is revealed except when she is captured in an old photograph that was probably taken centuries ago. The plot could have been more intriguing if the writers gave us some background about the woman in and how her child was taken away from her. A continuity issue occurs when a clean shaven Radcliffe is seen with a stubble in the very next shot. Kudos to the sound effects team for upping the horror quotient. The breaking of the eerie silence with a deafening screech or the clatter of toys makes one flinch sporadically. The scene where Arthur is almost drowned in the swamp is one of the striking scenes in the film and is well executed. The movie may have a hackneyed plot with a cliched ending, but it still manages to keep you at the edge of your seat throughout the film. Although the movie is ho-hum in the first half, it picks up tremendous pace towards the intermission. The predictability and the slow pace is a tad bit disappointing. The occasional chills and the impressive screen presence of Daniel Radcliffe makes it an engaging watch. Go for it only if you don't mind watching run of the mill horror movies and like Daniel Radcliffe.
Rating : **
