THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH (2015 - HORROR / GHOST / HAUNTED HOUSE) ** out of ***** OR 4 out of 10
(She's baaaaaaaaaaack....)
CAST: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Oaklee Pendergast, Amelia Crouch, Casper Allpress, Adrian Rawlins, Pip Pearce, Leila DeMeza.
DIRECTOR: Tom Harper
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and very bad examples of how to wear "basic black" - straight ahead...)
IT'S LIKE THIS: Proving the old adage that you can't keep a bad girl down, our femme phantom villainess from THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2012 (review # 600) is back to unleash more mayhem - and the four decades she spent in semi-retirement have clearly not made her more forgiving. More like an even bigger Mega-Biyatch From Beyond The Grave.
Oooooooooo-weeeee-ooooooooo!
By the way, if any of you haven't seen either the excellent 1989 original or it's surprisingly good 2012 remake, you may want to check out of this review because some nasty secrets will be revealed. Fair warning...
Okay. You had your shot. Anyway, THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH (like this bitch could be an angel of anything else) opens 40 years after the first movie ended in 1904. Which would make it right towards the end of World War II. We meet our new hero, er, heroine in the form of cute and sweet teacher Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox). Phoebe, like the rest of war-torn London, has to hide in the bomb shelters because of the constant mortar rounds the Nazis are dropping on them.
It gets so bad that Eve and her uptight boss, the unfortunately-named Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory), are ordered by the British War Authorities to take a bunch of kids out of London and deep into the countryside. There, they will remain in hiding until the war is over.
Not a bad plan, considering most of the shelling and bombing is aimed at the major cities, especially the capital of London. Too bad the idiots behind the evacuation of Eve, Jean, and their coterie of tykes chose the least appropriate house in the entire British isles for them to seek refuge in: the haunted house from the first movie. Good one, guys. Assholes.
Anyhow, Eve, Jean, and their little wards travel for what seems like eternity until they arrive at the now-deserted seaside burg of Crythin Gifford and the run-down house commonly known as Eel Marsh House AKA Y'All Are So Fucked Manor. Those of you who saw the first movie know that this house is basically like the paranormal equivalent of sailing on the Titanic: either way, you're getting off that ship badly.
Sure enough, it doesn't take long for Eve, Jean, and the little kids to detect that there's something, um, very wrong at Eel Marsh House. Eve does the Nancy Drew thing and with the aid of hunky displaced Royal Air Force pilot Harry Burnstow (Jeremy Irvine), she follows a trail back to the deserted town of Crythin Gifford. Apparently, our titular villainess did such a thorough job of wiping out the younger residents in the first film that everyone moved away. Probably afraid she'd start in on the adults.
Then, one by one, terrible accidents begin to claim the lives of the kids that Eve and Jean are taking care of. Seems the sanctuary they escaped to isn't so safe, after all. Fucking duh. Soon, it also becomes clear that "the woman in black" has her sights on young Edward (Oakley Pendergast), an orphaned boy whom Eve is very protective of. Before you know it, our lady ghost and our lady teacher are locked in a battle of wills over the life of young Edward.
Who will win? Will Eve be able to save Edward and the rest of the kids? Will that useless bitch Jean do anything to help? Or is it all up to Eve? Will Harry pitch in? What secrets from his past are haunting him? For that matter, what secrets from Eve's own past tie her unexpectedly to the woman in black? How will all this end?
Hard to say. One thing I know for sure: let's hope those Japanese ghosts from THE GRUDGE don't find out that THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2 stole the tagline of their movie. See below:
THE GRUDGE (2004): "It Never Forgives. It Never Forgets."
THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2 (2015): "She Never Forgives. She Never Forgets."
I feel a Ghost Catfight coming, yo. Outta here...
Oooooooo-weeeeeeee-ooooooooooo!!!
BUT SERIOUSLY: In our last review for THE WOMAN IN BLACK (review # 600), we discussed how the Japanese horror hit JU-ON (review # 74) and its even better American remake THE GRUDGE (review # 75) were clearly influenced by its source novella's tale of a vengeful ghost who just wants to hurt as many people as possible, without regard to who they are or if they are innocent. Interestingly, though, as mentioned above, THE WOMAN IN BLACK's recent sequel rips off THE GRUDGE's chilling tagline. I guess everything comes full circle in Hollywood. This just underscores how similar these films are with their inversion of the usual Haunted House Movie cliches. In these movies, unlike many other ghost films, absolutely no one is safe. I'm looking at you, POLTERGEIST and THE HAUNTING 1999.
Susan Hill's 1983 book was turned into an excellent 1989 British TV movie (review # 328) that is the very definition of terrifying. Just thinking of that ending gives me goosebumps. With such a great premise, it was inevitable that Hollywood would come-a-calling and give the story the "Big Studio" treatment in 2012. The result, surprisingly, was quite good. It wasn't as scary as the 1989 version, but it held its own, anchored by some solid frights and a respectable adult turn by Daniel Radcliffe.
Because THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2012 was a definite box-office hit, it was inevitable that there would be a sequel - even though things were tied up quite succinctly (and bleakly) at the end of the movie. Leave it to Hollywood to find a way to resurrect the dead - or at least, their ghosts. Now, along comes THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH to try to continue the tale of the vengeful Jennet Humfrey and her lost son.
Is the sequel as good as the 2012 remake and the 1989 original? The answer, quite frankly, is "NO." There are some good ideas here, and some intriguing atmosphere with the occasionally creepy setpiece - but the overall effect is tired and routine. And, dare I say, downright boring. I never thought I'd think that about a movie featuring probably the scariest ghost in horror movie history. Somehow, the woman in black is just not as frightening here as she was previously.
Much of this has to do with the face that the script doesn't tell us anything new about her. We found out everything - her past, her heartache, her loss, her rage - in the first film as Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) investigated. Here, Phoebe Fox's heroine Eve is put through the same paces, as if we hadn't seen this before. The result is utter tedium. I actually fell asleep a couple of times and had to be nudged awake by my buddy. Again, I honestly never thought that would happen to me while watching a flick with the probably the scariest horror movie ghost ever.
We mentioned some interesting ideas suggested in the early going of the film, but fumbled or outright dropped in the latter half. One of the fumbled threads deals with Eve's troubled history that actually dovetails with that of the ghost's. However, instead of effectively mining this sub-plot, the movie deals with it in the most mundane way possible. Too bad, because it could've made for an effective narrative spine to rest the film on.
The cast does their best, but they're short-changed by the script that keeps upstaging character development for yet another "scary" setpiece. Fox and her male lead Jeremy Irvine have a nice rapport, but we never really get a strong sense of them as a couple. More scenes of them getting to know one another would've been nice and given the film some depth. As it is, whenever something interesting begins to happen with the characters, we cut away to another boring shot of a door or shadow moving. Haven't we seen this all before?
In the end, THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH is a dull sequel to the strong 2012 remake. It has an interesting premise that is ultimately led nowhere by the script. If there is a third film, let's hope that the makers put some energy into it. Just because a movie is about ghosts and phantoms, doesn't mean it should feel dead.
