RBR: The Woman in Black

Credit Daniel Radcliffe for trying to work on another film as quickly as he could after the Harry Potter franchise in order to sustain an acting career in a post-wizard world. It's just a shame that he couldn't have attached himself to a better film. There's no sense of magic found here, in more ways than one. This period horror film slogs along at a glacial pace that tested my patience. Unlike The Others, a film that used its setting to add to the mystery and scares of this story, The Woman in Black merely includes it as a way to mask the fact that this is a very pedestrian ghost story. Director James Watkins fails to effectively film the film's key scary moments. Scenes that should send chills down your spine barely even register a notice here. Meanwhile, the answers to the mysterious happenings come too late in the film and by that point, you simply don't care. I hope Radcliffe, who does the best with what he's given here, can continue to have success in Hollywood, but if that is to happen, he'll need to find more inspired material than this. Rating: * 1/2