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.

Spooky Sunday #3 - Stonehearst Asylum

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween!This week I've been watching quite a few 'spooky' movies but my favorite was Stonehearst Asylum, starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess and Ben Kingsley.

A recent medical school grad who takes a position at a mental institution soon finds himself taken with one of his colleagues -- though he has no initial idea of a recent, horrifying staffing change.

Having read reviews and talked to other people who have seen Stonehearst Asylum I get the feeling I'm in the minority having liked this movie. Jim Sturgess is fantastic as a doctor who turns up at Stonehearst as a new doctor and discovering that things in the asylum aren't quite as they should be. The entire cast were superb, both the inmates and the doctors, and the setting was suitably eerie for a remote lunatic asylum. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The System of Doctor Tarr & Professor Fether, Stonehearst Asylum is a great Halloween watch which will have you split over who the real lunatics actually are...

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

Spooky Sunday #2 - Blackwood

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween! This week I've been watching Blackwood, starring Sophia Myles (Doctor Who - The Girl In The Fireplace) and Ed Stoppard (Brideshead Revisited).

Having recovered from a breakdown, college professor Ben Marshall relocates to the countryside with his wife and young son, hoping for a fresh start. He has a teaching job lined up and a new home to move into; things finally look to be going Ben's way. Until, that is, he starts to feel that something isn't quite right in the house. Finding himself plagued by spectral visions, Ben becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a local mystery that appears to be putting the lives of his family in danger.

The house they move into formerly belonged to an artist, now a resident of a nursing home and virtually catatonic, who has left behind most of her belongings including a suitably creepy painting in the room Ben sets up as his study. Throw in a peculiar fox mask, a supposedly disturbed ex-soldier (excellently played by Russell Tovey), a weird priest (Paul Kaye) and a broken clock chiming in the middle of the night and you have a spine-chilling movie, guaranteed to spook you if you watch by yourself late at night. Solid performances from Kaye, Tovey, Stoppard and Greg Wise as a philandering scientist make Blackwood appear better than maybe it is along with a sense that just around the corner is something truly scary. It never quite lives up to its promise though. Watching Ben unravel, wondering if Blackwood is really haunted or if indeed he is slowly losing his mind, is mesmerizing but not enough.

A good movie, worth a watch, but never quite gets there in terms of scaring you!

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

Spooky Sunday #1 - When The Lights Went Out

Welcome to the first edition of Spooky Sunday! This week I'm talking about a British horror movie called When The Lights Went Out starring Kate Ashfield from Shaun of the Dead.

Inspired by a true story now known as The Black Monk of Pontefract the movie is set in 1970's North of England when the power strikes were happening and it wasn't unheard of for the power to turn off without any notice. Moving into their dream house Len, Jenny and their daughter Sally soon discover that things are not quite as they seem. Poltergeist activity starts up and seems to be centered around Sally but Len especially tries to brush it off as Sally misbehaving, being mad at them for moving. He and his wife both find out that this is not the case and things obviously escalate until lives are threatened.


The movie is nothing new, there's no groundbreaking new development in film or outstanding special effects, but it is disquieting and watched under the right circumstances will definitely unnerve you. It's worth a watch if you're a fan of horror movies without blood, guts and gore but don't expect too much! At 85 minutes long it's over before it has chance to get started but it is wrapped up by the end, with a neat bow... Or is it?

Directed by Pat Holden (Moon)
Starring Kate Ashfield as Jenny, Steven Waddington as Len and newcomer Tasha Connor as Sally.

An R.I.P. Peril of the Screen review!