‘Woman in Black 2’ Review: Cheap Scares Get in the Way of Haunted Characters
Londoners fleeing the Blitz bring their own ghosts to a haunted mansion in the countryside, but this sequel too often takes the low road toward PG-13 jolts
Set in a gloomy house where you can almost make out shapes skittering through the shadows, “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death” is the kind of horror movie where you can see the smart, stylish scare film that’s constantly being obscured by cheap and easy jolts.
Director Tom Harper and screenwriter Jon Croker offer up plenty of the atmosphere we’ve come to expect from Hammer horror films — both in the studio’s heyday and in its latest incarnation — but every good idea this sequel has to offer winds up taking a backseat to the most obvious cat-in-the-closet “BOO!” moments imaginable.
Give “Woman in Black 2” this much credit: it makes the most out of its setting, in terms of both time and place. The geographical location is Eel Marsh Manor, the moldering house (complete with extra-creepy nursery) that vexed Daniel Radcliffe‘s character in the previous movie two years ago, and the time is 1941, when German planes regularly showered bombs over London.
Kindly schoolteacher Eve (Phoebe Fox) and her more stentorian boss Jean (Helen McCrory, “Penny Dreadful”) are escorting a group of children away from the dangers of the Blitz and out into the countryside. One of the kids, Edward (Oaklee Pendergast, “The Impossible”), comes to the expedition freshly orphaned as a result of a bombing the evening prior, and communicates only with pencil and paper.
On the train, Eve meets handsome flyboy Harry (Jeremy Irvine, “War Horse”) but that’s one of the few upsides of the trip. When the group arrives at the isolated village, Eve encounters a blind man yelling threats before they all arrive at the decrepit manor house.
The most interesting notion that “Woman in Black 2” offers, even though it never explores it as fully as it should, is that these characters were all literally haunted even before they arrive at the spooky house. Edward isn’t the only one dealing with personal loss, as we get to know Eve’s, Jean’s and even Harry’s past regrets and sorrows. So when the hideous Woman in Black (Leanne Best) starts appearing, it’s to people who are already acquainted with their own personal darkness.
Like its predecessor, “Woman in Black 2” doesn’t shy away from making children the victim of ghostly machinations, and as the characters begin dropping off one by one, it’s up to the adults to look inward before they can come to anyone else’s rescue. Pity, then, that director Harper (a vet of British TV series like “Peaky Blinders” and “Misfits”) shoots for the lowest common denominator of scares.
The cast is engaging — Irvine and stage actress Fox generate real chemistry — and the spot-on period detail and eerie cinematography (by George Steel) could have gone much further toward maintaining an unsettling mood had the script been more willing to enrich the characters and follow them into the abyss of their tormented psyches.
Every so often, “The Woman in Black 2” threatens to become a deeper, richer experience, but that potential, like the title character, disappears as soon as you turn your head.
19 Biggest Box-Office Bombs and Bummers in 2014: From 'The Giver' to 'Winter's Tale' (Photos)
Kellan Lutz starred in the first of this year's two movies starring the Greek hero, "The Legend of Hercules." The $8.8 million January opening weekend for the $70 million sword-and-sandals epic was no toga party. It finished with $61 million worldwide, well under the $243 million that Paramount's "Hercules," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, managed months later for Paramount.
Lionsgate
Even Aaron Eckhart's world-class abs couldn't bring the action horror film "I, Frankenstein" to life. It cost $65 million to make but opened to $8.6 million in January and couldn't crack $20 million domestically for Lionsgate.
Lionsgate
Colin Farrell and his horse never got out of the gate in the Akiva Goldsmith romance "Winter's Tale." Its production budget was $60 million and it opened to less than $10 million over the four-day Presidents Day weekend for Warner Bros. and mustered just $30 million domestically.
Warner Bros.
"They Suck at School" was the tagline for "Vampire Academy," the Mark Winters-directed adaptation of Richelle Mead's young adult fantasy novel. Ditto the box office: Its $3.9 million February debut for the Weinstein Company was the 11th-worst ever for a release on more than 2,500 screens, and it ended with $15.3 million worldwide.
The Weinstein Company
Paul W.S. Anderson's volcano saga "Pompeii" blew in February, and Kiefer Sutherland, Kit Harrington and Emily Browning couldn't save it. It had a $100 million production budget and opened to just $10 million on its way to a tepid $23 million domestic haul for Sony's TriStar.
TriStar
Maybe Madea would have helped? “Tyler Perry‘s The Single Moms Club,” the mogul's swan song with distributor Lionsgate, opened in March with $8.3 million, the worst debut of the prolific directing career of Perry, who is getting out of the movie biz for now to focus on his TV work at the OWN Network.
Lionsgate
The $5.2 million March debut of Open Road's action thriller "Sabotage" was star Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst opening in nearly three decades.
Open Road
"Haunted House 2" opened in April to $8.8 million and topped out at $17.3 million domestically -- less than the original film made in its first weekend for Open Road.
Open Road
The British horror film "The Quiet Ones" scared up just $8.5 million in its April opening for Lionsgate, on its way to a feeble $17.8 million global total.
Lionsgate
"Mom's Night Out," a faith-based comedy starring Patricia Heaton, couldn't cash in on the boom for Christian movies and topped out with $10 million in May for Sony TriStar.
TriStar
The James Brown biopic "Get On Up" had good reviews and a strong lead performance from Chadwick Boseman, but couldn't hit the high notes at the box office and finished with just $31 million for Universal.
Universal
A leaked version of a hacked copy of "Expendables 3" hitting the Internet weeks before its opening didn't help, but Sly Stallone's over-the-hill gang may have been hurt as much by franchise fatigue. The $190 million action sequel shot blanks in its $15.8 million August opening, and couldn't crack $40 million domestically.
Lionsgate
Seth MacFarlane's comedy Western "A Million Ways to Die in the West" got bucked at the box office, debuting with $16.7 million in May and topping out with $86 million worldwide for Universal. "Ted 2" anyone?
Universal
"The Giver" brought in an $45 million domestically in August for the Weinstein Company and another $22 million abroad, but those numbers were disappointing given the popularity of Lois Lowry's young adult bestseller.
Weinstein Company
Liam Neeson's "A Walk Among Tombstones" came out in one week before Denzel Washington's "The Equalizer," another R-rated action tale, and it was no contest at the box office. "Tombstones" topped out with $53 million worldwide in September, while Sony's "The Equalizer" is headed for $200 million.
Universal
After a heavenly start to the year, the market for faith-based movies went to hell. Freestyle Releasing's "The Identical," which starred Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd, delivered a dismal $1.5 million in its September debut and was out of theaters two weeks later.
Freestyle Releasing
The Nicholas Sparks adaptation "The Best of Me" has brought in just $25 million since opening in October for Relativity Media, making it by far the lowest-grossing film adaptation of the famed romance novelist's books.
Relativity Media
Audiences failed to connect with Paramount's "Men, Women & Children," writer-director Jason Reitman's take on technology affecting our lives. It opened to an embarrassing $306,367 from 617 theaters in October and grossed just $705,908 before being yanked from theaters.
Paramount
The sci-fi tale "Transcendence" marked the fourth box-office bomb in a row for Johnny Depp, on the heels of "The Lone Ranger," "Dark Shadows" and "Rum Diaries." "Transcendence" opened to $10.8 million in April and topped out at $23 million domestically for Warner Bros., not enough given its $100 million production budget.
Warner Bros.
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Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp, Seth MacFarlane and Sly Stallone all had movies that missed the mark at the multiplexes
Kellan Lutz starred in the first of this year's two movies starring the Greek hero, "The Legend of Hercules." The $8.8 million January opening weekend for the $70 million sword-and-sandals epic was no toga party. It finished with $61 million worldwide, well under the $243 million that Paramount's "Hercules," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, managed months later for Paramount.