The Woman in Black: Angel of Death

***
UK Release Date: January 1st 2015

40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, a group of children evacuated from WWII London arrive, awakening the house's darkest inhabitant.

Director: Tom Harper

Starring: Phoebe Fox, Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine

The Woman in Black: Angel of Death is an honourable stab at a sequel that we never expected to see. How can they carry on from the ending of the first film? They can't, that's why it's set 40 odd years after Daniel Radcliffe's encounter with the woman in black. school teacher Eve (Fox), along with Headmistress Jean (McCrory) lead a group children to Eel Marsh House from the bombings in WW2. The irony. The ghost still lurks in the shadows, and a little too deeply. There's enough scares to keep AoD appealing but the story sticks too close to the original. It's not as creepy as the first, but the jumps more than make up for it. Angel of Death has got its advantages and disadvantages and sadly it'll always be compared to its predecessor. The age rating is higher and doesn't need to be (depending on your outlook of the first one). It's gorgeously shot, with the darkness devouring all. Something is hiding in every nook and cranny. The ghost coaxes the children to kill themselves. One by one they fall, their deaths as horrible as the next. Death is everywhere, and it's painfully quiet. None of this makes up for yet another shoddy ending. Director Tom Harper and scriptwriter Jon Croker have played it safe, sticking to first film's formula. There's no original ideas in this British horror, but it'll still give you a heck of a fright.

3/5