Black marks for horror follow-up
(15)
The original Woman in Black was a surprise critical and commercial hit back in 2012 — and proved Daniel Radcliffe could make it in a postHarry Potter world.
Follow-up Angel of Death waves goodbye to Dan and welcomes a new bunch of victims for the titular supernatural entity to haunt and torture.
Set 40 years after the first flick, headmistress Jean (Helen McCrory) and teacher Eve (Phoebe Fox) join a group of children evacuated from WWII London to the countryside-based Eel Marsh House and — naturally — then awaken the stately home’s terrifying ghostly inhabitant.
Londoner Tom Harper makes the leap from directing TV (Peaky Blinders, Misfits) to helm only his third feature film but struggles to blend in the same menace James Watkins brought to the original.
The relatively inexperienced Jon Croker (Fast Girls) wrote the script from a story by first movie scribe Susan Hill and the biggest mistake the team behind the camera make is to sideline the monstrous menace.
Radcliffe’s frightening face-off with the Woman in Black came front and centre, but the brilliant banshee lurks in the shadows for most of her second haunting.
Another problem — one which is pretty fatal for a horror movie — is that it’s just not very scary.
Incorporating war-time terror worked for the likes of The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth but that was because they remembered that, first and foremost, they were horror films designed to chill the spine.
Croker and Hill present more of a dramatic tale — dashing pilots, mute kids — with the odd scare.
The most frightening and unsettling moments see the Woman encouraging young children to commit suicide under her horrendous spell.
A lack of suspense puts even more responsibility on the cast to maintain interest, while the spirit bides her time between appearances — and they do a commendable job.
Fox is a very credible heroine in what marks only her second big-screen appearance, McCrory (Harry Potter’s Narcissa Malfoy) brings some gravitas to proceedings and War Horse star Jeremy Irvine some old-school leading man charm. Cinematographer George Steel and the visual effects team also frame some eye-catching visuals — the gothic grandeur of Eel Marsh House, misty marshes — and a creepy-looking antagonist to rate alongside horror’s most memorable ghosts.
The ending is a huge letdown, though, with the writing duo lazily rehashing much of the previous movie’s climax and battering the ears with over-the-top bumps in the night.
A solid story overtaking skin-crawling scares mean Angel of Death is one spooky sequel that fails to build on the eerie original’s promise.