Photo Credit: Nick Wall © Angelfish Films Limited 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Jeremy Irvine and Oaklee Pendergast
Directed by Tom Harper
Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death opens in 1941 as British schoolchildren are being evacuated from London to the supposed safety of the countryside far from the bombing raids of the Luftwaffe. Alas, for one group of embarking children, the well-intentioned evacuation will take them into an even more perilous world. It is one where ghosts are all too real.
Two teachers, the middle-aged sourpuss Mrs. Hogg (Helen McCrory) and the younger, sweeter Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox) are accompanying the children to the now-abandoned village of Crythin Gifford. One of their charges, Edward (Oaklee Pendergast), has turned mute following the death of both his parents. Eve feels an immediate kinship with this traumatized boy.
Aboard the train, Eve meets a dashing RAF pilot, Harry Burnstow (Jeremy Irvine, in the fully grown-up version of his War Horse persona). The mutual attraction between the two is obvious, even if it is quite subdued. By happenstance, Harry is stationed at an airfield close to the group’s destination, Eel March House. Isn’t that convenient, just in case they run into trouble?
Dilapidated Eel March House is set on a bog enshrouded by a seemingly ubiquitous mist and connected to the mainland by the Nine Lives Causeway. However, every time the tide comes in, the manor becomes detached from land.
Apparently, none of these evacuees saw the original Woman in Black. That Edwardian-era horror drama had the distinction of being the first role Daniel Radcliffe took after completing the Harry Potter series. If only the evacuees had seen that film, they would have known that the manor is H-A-U-N-T-E-D! To make matters worse, Jennet Humfrye (Leanne Best), the ectoplasmic villainess stalking the place, has a specialty. Back in the 19th century, she had her own son stripped away from her. Consumed with an appetite for vengeance, the spectral Jennet now makes other young children kill themselves.
Once arrived at Eel March House, Edward begins demonstrating trance-like behavior. The other children also start acting strangely. Of course, Mrs. Hogg is skeptical, insisting that there is no such thing as the supernatural. When the empirically minded Eve points out all the strange, inexplicable phenomena, the two clash. Do you have any doubt as to who will be proven right?
Jon Croker’s screenplay is dominated by a panoply of all too familiar haunted house tropes. However, the direction by Tom Harper (The Scouting Book for Boys), the muted cinematography and the production design help rescue the film from oblivion. Abrupt snippets of composition complemented by jolts of jump-cut editing prove effective in raising the scare quotient of the film.
Despite a contrived plot line, Woman in Black 2 packs plenty of atmosphere. It provides more than a few moments that will have horror genre devotees jumping out of their seats.
