The Woman In Black (**1/2 out of ****)

The recent trend of torture porn and found footage has left the horror genre feeling weaker. So rarely is there a good and scary film out there. Some films like Paranormal Activity 3 and The Chernobyl Diaries have a few tense moments but lack a luring story. Instead films like those use easy gimmicks like you don't want to see a family man or hot intelligent girl die. Other films like Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark aren't very haunting but have a rich imagination and try to tell a compelling horror story. The Woman In Black has a bit of both while being call back to simple ghost stories but here we have two great things

The first great thing is Daniel Radcliffe playing Arthur Kipps, our hero. Arthur's wife died in child birth and appears distant to his son. Loving your child isn't always easy, not because they can be brats but it's hard to remain optimistic when your life is changed forever. Arthur is young lawyer going to sell a house in a small country town. The house is the film's second feature to brag about. It has brilliant artistic design and has a very creepy atmosphere. The house is haunted be a shadowy specter dressed all in black (I'm sure you could've guessed that). Most of the scares are cheep thrills that come from loud noises due to sound mixing techniques. The spine chilling scares can be counted on one hand but at least the film tries some fiendish thrills. The film's two strong elements make it better than some recent horror movies, but that doesn't mean it's all that good. Still that haunted Eel Marsh Manor is a terrifying yet captivating  dream.

(First film I've seen on DVD released this year hence the late review)

**1/2 out of ****