The Woman in Black (film): Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:WiBTrailerShot_247.png|frame|[[No Peripheral Vision|Don't look over your shoulder...]]]]

 

The 2012 [[The Film of the Book|film version]] of ''[[The Woman in Black]]'', produced by [[Hammer Horror]].

[[Daniel Radcliffe|Arthur Kipps]], a grieving widowed man, is sent to settle the affairs of a deceased widow. The locals seem to be in a rush to hurry him along his way, but he resolves to do the job he came to do.

 

 

----

* {{spoiler|[[Bittersweet Ending]]}}: {{spoiler|The protagonist and his son die, but they're reunited with his wife and seemingly happy to be together. Also, unlike the rest of the children the Woman has taken, they're free to move on to the afterlife. However the [[Bittersweet Ending]] is Bitter enough to veer into [[Downer Ending]] territory --Arthur and Joseph ''are'' dead, after all, and the Woman in Black ''will'' continue to torment the village.}}

* [[Blood From the Mouth]]: {{spoiler|The lye victim}}, in a severe example.

* [[Collector of the Strange]]

* [[Creepy Doll]]: GODDAMN EVERYWHERE.

* [[Dark Is Evil]]

* {{spoiler|[[Diabolus Ex Machina]]}}: See below.

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: The titular woman steals children out of revenge {{spoiler|against her son being kept away from her}}...but the children she's stealing have nothing to do with the matter.

** Or maybe the only reason {{spoiler|Kipps' child didn't join the Woman's ghost army}} is because {{spoiler|his father died with him, trying to protect him.}}

** [[Epileptic Trees|Or the presence of]] {{spoiler|Kipp's wife}}, who was already foreshadowed as a [[Guardian Angel]], made it impossible for the Woman to claim them.

* [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You]]: {{spoiler|The final shot of the film seems to imply this. If you have kids, it's particularly unsettling.}}

* [[Ghostly Goals]]: The titular ghost exists to cause the children of the nearby town to kill themselves. Arthur believes that she's doing this {{spoiler|because she wants to be reunited with her son, and he risks his life to accomplish this}}.

* [[Hammer Horror]]: ...duh.

* [[Haunted House Historian]]: ''Everyone'' in town, but of course none of them are talky.

* {{spoiler|[[The Hero Dies]]}}

** [[Harry Potter|Harry and Aberforth]] are trying to stop the ghost of [[Life On Mars|WPC Annie Cartwright]].

** [[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|Dr Watson]] turns up as PC Collins.

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted thoroughly within the first three minutes, and throughout the movie.

* [[Ironic Nursery Rhyme]]: Never brought up in the movie, but the trailer has a brutally chilling one:

The specter of darkness, [[Title Drop|The woman in black]]. }}

* [[Jump Scare]]: More than a few.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: {{spoiler|"never forgive...''never forgive''...'''never forgive!'''"}}

* [[Monkey Morality Pose]]: At least one set of the monkey toys was in the See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil pose.

* [[Nightmare Face]]: The titular Woman In Black. [[Nothing Is Scarier|For most of the film she is typically seen either from a distance, or out of the camera's focus.]] But at the climax we get a good look at her... have fun sleeping tonight.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: Used a lot, and to great effect.

* [[Old Dark House]]: Also a [[Haunted House]].

* [[Powder Keg Crowd]]: When children start dying after Arthur arrives in town, the townsfolk blame him because of his connection with the manor, and at one point surround Daily's car as he's ready to drive out of town. Daily defuses the situation.{{spoiler|..before nearly running them over.}}

* [[Psychic Powers]]: {{spoiler|Mrs. Daily has a connection with the soul of her son, who was taken by the Woman in Black.}}

* [[Quieter Than Silence]]: Often.

* [[Real After All]]: Sam Daily touts that Spiritualism is a hoax {{spoiler|even though the Woman in Black had taken his son as well, and his son's soul regularly takes possession of his wife}}.

* [[Room Full of Crazy]]: Nathaniel's room, where the wallpaper hides {{spoiler|missives from his mother either in red paint or actual blood}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: Everything that the main character does in this movie, including his attempts to set things right with Jennet and her dead son, is rendered pointless at the end when he and his son are simply murdered by Jennet's ghost. [[Bittersweet Ending|At the very least, though, he and his son are reunited with his wife]].}}

** Several scenes, to Harry Potter:

*** {{spoiler|The afterlife scene being in a train station.}}

* [[Skeptic No Longer]]: Sam Daily finally acknowledges the supernatural nature of the house and the existence of the ghost in the last act, and helps Kipps lay the ghosts to rest. {{spoiler|Well, he tries.}}

* [[Together in Death]]: {{spoiler|The whole Kipps family.}}

* [[Unfinished Business]]: Jennet watched her son die, his body never recovered but left in the bog where it was with a simple cross to mark its place. Our hero concludes that reuniting the two may well lay her to rest. {{spoiler|It doesn't work.}}

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: Arthur. Maybe if we {{spoiler|reunite the ghost with her son}} she'll stop killing people! Nope.

[[Category:Horror Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]

[[Category:Film]]