Greeting to my Children of the Night.
Happy Sinful Saturday. Hope y'all have some amazing plans for this weekend. I got my night out last night so today is spent cleaning to make up for all the crap I didn't do yesterday, Went out for The Boy's birthday dinner last night. Went to a local sushi place and it was PACKED! Honestly, I was shocked. I've never seen anyone in there. I'm glad to see them busy though; good food at reasonable prices, We walked out of there for under $40. That's pretty damn good for sushi, drinks, and dessert.
After dinner, we saw Daniel Radcliffe's new film, A Woman in Black. I really should have known better than to go see this film on opening weekend. We were the oldest people in the theater and it was *packed*. I've spend enough years teaching that my idea of a fun night out doesn't generally include a room full of teens.
Based on a novel by British author Susan Hill, the film is directed by James Watkins and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer, just nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Albert Nobbs. The synopsis is: a young lawyer (Radcliffe) travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorner woman is terrorizing the locals. -- (C) CBS Films.
Over all, it's a solid B movie. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 63%. The biggest observation that all the critics seem to have is that it is a standard British horror. There are no big budget effects, there aren't a lot of big "gotcha" moments, and there is absolutely no gore. For the standard American audience that has become used to the gore of Eli Roth's Hostel series, the Saw franchise (yuck), or even some the physicality of the latest possession films, this movie may seem to be lacking. I, on the other hand, love the haunted house genre. This film reminded me of Henry James'
Turn of the Screw. Having been based on a book (cover seen right), I may now have to read
The Woman in Black.
The 2012 version is actually a remake of a made for TV film from 1989 staring Adrian Rawlins as Arthur Kidd, Bernard Hepton as Sam Toovey, David Daker and Josiah Freston, and Pauline Morgan as The Woman in Black (seen left). There has also been a play version that has spent 23 years on London's West End.
Here is a link to their website and if I ever make it over there, seeing the show is now on my to-do list.
Seeing a grown up Daniel Radcliffe was a bit surreal. His character, Arthur Kipps, is another reluctant hero and you can't help but draw parallels with Harry Potter. That, and the foggy, marshy, wasteland of a set, has you peeking around corners for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Would I recommend seeing it? Yes, and in the theater too. Some of the visuals definitely benefit from the large screen format.
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