Daniel Radcliffe in The Woman in Black

Harry Potter's Horror Film Works Against Type

Daniel Radcliffe has been Harry Potter for the past 10 years; in fact he's been the face of the franchise. Being typecast can kill an actor's career so leaving an iconic character behind often requires they break the mold. Radcliffe has done just that, as he did in his Broadway performance of Equus, by starring in the psychological thriller The Woman in Black in theatres February 3rd.

Harry Potter the character's time has come to an end, but Daniel Radcliffe's post-wizarding career is just beginning.

The Plot of Woman in Black

Daniel Radcliffe delivers a solid performance as the widowed young lawyer Arthur Kipps who travels to the remote town of Eel Marsh with his 4-year-old son where he is to settle the estate of a recluse named Alice Drablow. Once on the premises unnatural events occur around the house and he sees an apparition - a strange woman in black - an evil spirit who takes its revenge against young children, and Kipp's arrival resurrects the campaign of terror.

When strange events start to happen in town, fingers pointed to Kipps because he is the only one who has seen the woman in black. He investigates the history of the estates and its former residents to identify the cause of these occurrences and how they might be stopped.

James Watkins Directs Woman in Black

Eric Eisenberg says in Cinemablend, "Director James Watkins does a fantastic job establishing atmosphere, using shadows and low light to create a sense of disorientation and panic. The house in which Arthur is working is filled with terrifying toys and porcelain dolls that aren't scary by themselves, but do a brilliant job adding a creepy ambiance to every scene. Unfortunately, the movie does make heavy use of jump scares, which will effectively raise the audiences' blood pressure, but feel cheap and phony in the aftermath."

Glen Lovell at CinemaDope says, "Radcliffe's first post-Potter outing is plenty atmospheric, in the style of Roger Corman's Poe series. It's just not all that scary ‒ unless you find rattling doorknobs and dead children's faces pressed to frosty windows scary."

Nick Rodgers at Suite101.com quips, "Gaze at sumptuous, macabre production design. Appreciate the ominous atmospherics. But the endless slog of midnights dreary will leave you feeling weak and weary, and it's really just a super frowny-faced, well-mounted Gothic spin on The Grudge."

Ciaran Hinds Rejoins Daniel Radcliffe

The Woman in Black makes good use of the eerie Victorian era and takes advantage of another notable performance from Ciaran Hinds who plays Sam Daily, a wealthy landowner. Hinds has experience working with Radcliffe; he worked along side him in Harry Potter as Aberforth Dumbledore.

Janet McTeer also joins the cast as Mrs. Daly, this being her second film in theatres at the moment, given her much-nominated role in Albert Nobbs.

Daniel Radcliffe as Alan Ginsberg

Radcliffe is to play Alan Ginsberg in next year's debut of Kill Your Darlings with Catherine Keener and Elizabeth Olsen about the famous beat poet and his fellow bards - jack Kerouac and William Buroughs.

Though some may feel Woman in Black is more atmosphere than frights and Radcliffe too young to pull off the role despite competent work, it did disembody Harry andput some distance between the character and an actor we hope we won't outgrow.