The Woman in Black - Mild spoilers, yo.

[feliciakw]

Just got back from seeing The Woman in Black (and going out to eat). What a scary, fun movie.

Good, old-fashioned Gothic-esque haunted house movie. Wonderfully tense and scary. The audience jumped many times (usually followed by the tension relieving "oh, you got me" laugh). I was clamped onto George's arm for a not insignificant portion of the movie, and at one point commented that I wished I had my afghan to hide behind.

There was zero gore, and lots and lots of long shadows and faces appearing out of nowhere and glimpsing of things out of the corner of your eye.

There were several small children in the theater, and I wonder how many of them are going to have bad dreams tonight. George commented that some of the stuff was of the type that would give him bad dreams.

I've read that it uses just about every horror movie trope in the book, and it probably does. I think the only thing I haven't seen used on SPN is music boxes. They haven't used music boxes on SPN yet, have they? Or am I forgetting something?

One thing I'd like to know (and I'll probably have to read the book to see if it's there) is the backstory between the mom and the sister. It dealt with a family adoption set-up, but the only POV we got of the arrangement was from the woman in black, who started out fairly dark and proceeded to unhinge as things went on. I'm thinking there was some evil mojo going on in the backstory.

Just a really, really fun, creepy, scary movie of the type I enjoy.

I kept wanting to tell the guy, though, that he needed to do a good salt-and-burn.

Also, don't blink.

Comments

[sarcasticval.livejournal.com]

I adored the book, but even though I've read it and know exactly what happens I STILL think the film would creep me out too much! Feel free to roll your eyes accordingly :)

From what I remember of the book backstory the married sister adopted the baby to spare the family from THE SHAME, but the mom didn't want to part with her child and kept encroaching on the adoptive boundaries.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Yes, at first I got the sense that it had something to do with unwed motherhood, but as things progressed I got the sense that there was something more . . . like occult dabblings or witchcraft or something. (I kept thinking *insert Monty Python voice* "She's a witch!")

At any rate, she was definitely a vengeful spirit that needed a good salt-and-burn.

I've also to some unanswered questions that I'm hoping the book would clear up.

The book has also been turned into a stage play that I'm now interested in seeing staged.

Have you read any Shirley Jackson? I kind of get the feeling that this author might be a Shirley Jackson fan, as this has a few passing similarities to The Haunting and reminded me of such.

You should totally check out the movie. It is delightfully creepy, and even though you can see some of the scares coming from a mile away, they still getcha. :-)