This film is hauntingly familiar

The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Death
English (A) ¬¬
Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory

When it comes to making horror films, it’s hard to beat cliches. Most of the plots boil down to one of three situations: A terrifying, age-old spirit haunting a house that a family has just moved into, a bloodthirsty demon possessing an unsuspecting human, or a psychopath going on a killing spree.

The Woman in Black (2012) was a breath of fresh air for the modern horror movie buff, who has watched TVs and light bulbs switching on by themselves too many times and people finding spiritual awakening after witnessing a farfetched exorcism.

Although the film had to do with a troubled spirit, or the ‘woman in black’, it had the advantage of being unpredictable by virtue of being set in 20th century England, where technology is not a medium for ghosts.

The basis of the horror story was not immediately told, leaving a viewer in a state of heightened curiosity. We come to know of the ‘woman in black’, who lingers in the Eel Marsh House on a lonely island.

Scattered graves and a solitary cross in the marshes make it clear that house has seen some dark times.The film stood out from the others of the same genre, because the horror is not glaring.

There’s enough breathing space between terrifying scenes, so that each one can be absorbed to the maximum.

The same tactic of viewer engagement seems to have been carried over in The Woman in Black 2, which is set around the time of the Second World War.
Two teachers and a few students go on an excursion to the Eel Marsh House, to escape the nightmare of the war.

These characters seem to be completely unrelated to those in the previous film but go through the same kind of terror, as though the producers followed a blueprint to replicate the success of The Woman in Black.

A horror movie being set in the 20th century barely feels novel anymore and the ghost still follows the same move to spook her prey. Just when one pauses to think about how riveting The Woman in Black 2 is, it starts to go downhill.

This film is all too much like its prequel. If it proves to be interesting, it would only be to those who missed watching The Woman in Black.