Spooky Sunday #4 - The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween! This week I had a Woman In Black marathon, the first movie for the third or fourth time and the second for the first time.

I'm a huge fan of The Woman In Black by Susan Hill, I've read the book a dozen or more times and I've seen the fantastically creepy stage show. I was a bit hesitant about the movie, mainly because of Daniel Radcliffe and his Harry Potter baggage, but I have to say I was suitably impressed. I watched it on the big screen, mostly because I thought it would have a better impact that way and although I didn't jump I did have shivers down my back at certain points!

Sadly, this wasn't the case with The Woman In Black: Angel of Death. I read the book, by Martyn Waites, back in January 2014 after hearing that there was going to be a (fully authorized, by Susan Hill, sequel) and was intrigued to see how they were going to do it. Despite an excellent cast including Jeremy Irvine, Phoebe Fox and Helen McCrory, this movie fell flat for me. This time it's 40 years after the original event and England is being heavily bombed. A group of evacuee children and their teachers are moved to Eel Marsh House to get them out of the city and along the way they meet a handsome RAF officer stationed near said house. This is where Angel of Death lost its appeal for me. Aside from throwing in a hint of romance(?) the house loses its terrifying aspect when there's such a large group of people. One of the key points of the original was the isolation that Arthur Kipps felt, in the house by himself and cut off by the tide.

If you loved the first movie don't watch Angel of Death expecting the same level of chills and if you haven't watched the first movie make sure to watch it before this one otherwise you may be severely disappointed.

This has been an R.I.P. X production.