I loved the 2012 horror film “The Woman in Black,” quite impressed by the performance of a grown up Daniel Radcliffe, and lauding praise for a successful scary modern day movie. I probably should have known that a 2014 follow-up, “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death,” would be far less impactful, if not downright lousy.
Set amidst the carnage of World War 2, the movie opens with the unfathomable chaos and evacuation of London during the German Blitz. We’re quickly introduced to our heroine, Eve Parkin (Phoebe Fox) a grade school teacher joining her class as they prepare to flee to an isolated town embodied in constant fog. “You’re late.” The school’s headmistress (Helen McCrory) advises. “Sorry.” Eve replies quickly, “I was bombed last night.”
Phoebe Fox does a fine job with what she’s given in the role of Eve Parkin. She’s the youthful and attractive teacher, playing well off of the stern headmistress. Eve quickly draws the eye of a dashing RAF pilot (Jeremy Irvine) whose base is nearby, and takes personal vested interest in a young student who was orphaned by the bombings the night before the story begins. Sadly, that’s where the praise ends for this unforgivably boring movie.
The original “The Woman in Black” succeeded on its location – a dreary mansion set amidst the foggy atmosphere of a marshland estate. It made sense why the main character was there, and why he had to stay. Here, it’s a journey that’s not organic, other than to put a group of children and their two teachers in a haunted house. The fears of the Luftwaffe bombers are real, especially when one character mentions that he can’t turn his headlights on for risk of alerting the planes. That fits. But the lack of anything interesting happening inside the house is where the movie bombs out (pun intended).
We have the usual jump scares, and the ultimately lazy “dream scene scares.” There’s an old nursery room fool of spooky toys, a room that Eve says “feels sad” but nothing of note every happens with them. While the original film has one scene in particular that I have written to be one of the scariest horror movie scenes of all time, this go round lacks any tension of fear at all. Its 98 minutes – and even that feels long.
Today marks Halfway to Halloween, but if you’re looking for a good horror movie to celebrate with, skip this one, and opt for the original (streaming now on Amazon). Horror movie sequels are almost always bad, and this is no exception to the rule.
