Customer Reviews

Woman in Black [VHS]

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is the one and only film that I've felt compelled to comment on in Amazon. With a modest budget and BBC tv-movie production values, the filmmakers have crafted a masterpiece -- a ghost story that easily rivals the original "Haunting" and any other like film you can name. A strong mood is struck from the opening scene and the stakes rise throughout the film. Your nerves are slowly tweaked by subtle terrifying incidents until the penultimate visceral moment of horror -- the effects of which haunt you well beyond the disturbing ending.

The film is more effective than both the hit London play and Susan Hill's original novel, which is really saying something, as both are wonderful in their own right.

It's truly a great shame that this shining example of the genre is relatively unknown. Hopefully I have done a little to rectify this by writing this review. I strongly believe that any fan of ghost stories would not want to miss this.

A problem I am increasingly encountering when watching horror movies is that I am often completely unafraid of the images passing by onscreen. In some respects that is understandable considering most of the films I watch really are not attempting to scare the viewer. Gallons of blood and yet another knife wielding psycho has been done so many times that a body popping out of a closet or the old "stalk and slash" routine rarely raise a hair on my neck. Fortunately, I occasionally run across something that does rise above the mass to deliver profoundly scary thrills. Moreover, these movies, and there are not many of them, usually accomplish this feat without significant bloodshed. "The Woman in Black" is one of these rarities, an obscure, made for television British picture that plays like an old time ghost story replete with scary sound effects, malevolent apparitions, and a chilling back story. This is grim stuff, and you are a lost cause if the ending doesn't make you sit up and take note. Some American cable channel really ought to start showing this one every Halloween.

Young attorney Arthur Kidd is a quite likeable fellow; he is a bright young man dedicated to his job, has an attractive young wife, two lovely children, and enjoys the company of his fellow man. Unlike most of the stodgy fogies at his law firm, he will take a few minutes out of his day to talk to lowly law clerks even though his boss constantly upbraids him for such unprofessional behavior. In what feels like a punishment for Kidd's continued insubordination in this regard, the senior partner in the firm orders Arthur to go to the village of Crythin Gifford where an important client recently died. It is the young lawyer's job to secure the recently deceased's papers at a place called Eel-Marsh House, however long that takes, and report back to the home office. The entire job shouldn't take more than a week, but the assignment bothers Arthur nonetheless because it means a lengthy separation from his family. He goes, though, because he hopes to secure a rapid advance within the firm. Initially, few indications exist that this mission to a misty little village in the middle of nowhere contains a horror beyond time and space.

The first indication something is very wrong with this new situation occurs when Arthur sees an ominous figure, a woman clad entirely in black, during a visit to a cemetery in the village. Seeing a person standing around in mourning attire in a burial ground certainly shouldn't raise too many red flags, but there is something about this woman that gives Kidd a bad feeling. Further signs of trouble arise when the attorney encounters several locals, including one of the village elders, who express reservations about Arthur's mission in town. It seems that nearly everyone avoids the Eel-Marsh house on the outskirts of the town, but good old Kidd knows that is exactly where he must go to do his job. He secures transportation to the house, learns the floor plan and how to turn on the lights, and sets about his work. Eerie events happen almost immediately upon his arrival. Kidd hears the most horrible screams and sounds of a buggy splashing into the water out on the road heading to the house, and he even sees that enigmatic woman in black again on the grounds. A room within the house, unreachable because of a door impervious to all attempts to gain entry, provides further creepy situations. As Arthur slowly unearths the terrors of the abandoned estate, he learns more than any human should about the paranormal and its potentialities in the world of the living. The last twenty minutes or so of "The Woman in Black" slap you in the face with shock after shock, and just when you think it is finally over the last nightmare unfolds with devastating effectiveness.

There really isn't any way to prepare yourself for this film. My girlfriend, who walked in about twenty minutes into the film and watched it to the end, claimed that it wasn't all that scary. But I hold a different view, especially concerning a scene where Arthur lies in bed recovering from his stay at the house and finally sees the woman in black up close and personal followed by the last minute of the movie. I can still see that quiet little lake and what Arthur sees standing some distance from the boat containing himself and his wife. If the woman in black and all of her attendant menace do little for you, there is still the oppressive atmosphere that hangs heavy over nearly every scene in the film. The Eel-House is your typical mist shrouded house on the coast: dank, dark, and burdened with horrible secrets. I consider myself a brave, do anything type of person, but there is no way I would spend any time in that house alone. It is simply too creepy for words.

The only significant failing of this film is its noticeable television feel. Some of the production values don't come off as well as they could and the editing founders in a few places, but these are minor problems considering the picture as a whole. It is light years better than most of the pap passed off as entertainment these days. Regrettably, the transfer quality on the DVD is mediocre, with its often jiggling and color soft picture. Despite these small difficulties, "The Woman in Black" succeeds in presenting the viewer with a classic ghost story that is frequently the equivalent of pouring a bucket of icy water on your head.

I saw this film on TV about ten years ago, late at night, home alone, in a big house. The perfect setting for a perfect scary movie. And till this date it is film which scared me the most.

I was happy to know that this little gem finally found its way to VHS and DVD. It was made for TV like other films of its kind. Most of them you'll never find again and nothing like this, for a strange reason, ever gets made for the big screen.

Monsters, blood and gore never frightened me. The common horror film is usually dull and packed with clichés. You know exactly what's gonna happen and when you'll jump. There are no surprises. They are simply not scary. The Woman in Black is something else. It's a victorian ghost story! I don't want to get into the details, but you'll meet a young man staying alone in a huge haunted house far from people. There are weird things happening there, there are strange sounds, and it's the woman in black; the pale ghost of an old woman dressed in black who you'll usually see just standing still like a pole in the distance staring with red rimmed eyes and an evil look on her face. Gone is the gore and the blood, the action and the special effects, thank God. The film is actually very slow paced. But you'll be on the edge of your seat. You'll know the woman is around, you'll be looking for her, but you'll never know when or where she'll show up. And usually she shows up when you least expect it. This is clever film making, a film from a director who knows exactly how to play with your feelings and fears and psychologicaly push you to the limit before he gets you from behind. You'll have to watch it to know what I mean, but I can assure you that you, atleast once, will be shocked so much your limbs will turn cold with fear and shivering for another couple of minutes or ten.... I wish there were more of this kind.

I first saw this movie here in the U.K. in December 1989 when Central TV broadcast it. I still have the video tape, although worn out (over the years many friends and family members have borrowed it and have also been chilled!). Anyway, I remember coming home that night, grabbing a Christmas tipple, switching the lights out and watching what was advertised as a 'Christmas Ghost Story'. Oh boy...even now I remember certain scenes that still send the hairs on my neck standing on-end...When Arthur sees The Woman In Black on the marshes at Eel Marsh House...when he is given the toy soldier in the nursery (hitherto locked... but opens alone), the ghostly screams of the pony and trap crashing into the marsh from the causeway and when Arthur is in bed at the Gifford Arms. Now, some of the posts I read here give it a low rating....hmmm...I can really only guess at why...This is a 'traditional' ghost story; there is no big budget action or special effects...no swearing, no blood, no gratuitous sex scenes, no chainsaws or guns etc...So how refreshing!!!! IF you like chilling horror, well written, well acted and with a genuinely scary atmosphere, this is the movie for you. I too like the original horrors; only last night I saw the original Haunting and that is a superb movie. Very atmospheric again - and so is The Woman In Black. The end of the movie differs to the book, but still very good. Well, looking at the other good judges on here, I think the recommendation speaks for itself. And it *is* recommended! Try it...you *will* like it if you like traditional ghost stories...SO...turn off the lights, turn up the fire, lock the doors, grab a drink...and enjoy... :)

Back when 'The Woman in Black' first aired on television six years ago, I saw it twice. Until happily finding and buying it off Amazon last week, I had not seen it again (although I have been wanting to own it for years). Just as I expected, despite the number of years that have passed, its performance this time around reinforced my previous opinion that it is, perhaps, the most effective ghost story put to film. Forget gore or unnecessary special effects...They aren't needed. It just goes to show that a large budget isn't needed to make a fine film, and that one doesn't have to be beaten over the head with special effects to get the point. I find it a shame that this movie is not available in many video stores, because it certainly deserves a broader circulation.

This is a genuinely eerie slice of perfect horror. As a correct reviewer said earlier 'whats scarier some guy in makeup chopping off some nubile teenagers head or waking up in the dark scared of some dark shape standing near you door?' The Woman in Black plays upon your night fears, your childhood fears of the dark, the fear of being watched, the fear of being alone in a house and hearing strange, sinister noises; REAL FEARS.

The subtle build up of terror from said womans sly appearances at the funeral (which i missed on first viewing) to her unforgettable final appearance generate REAL chills. Believe me after watching this one you won't want to sleep with the lights on...

After the lame overhyped nonsense that was the Blair Witch Project surely this film deserves redistribution if only to show the horrors genres new audience what 'real' fear is about.

I've never read the novel, so can't judge how well this production comes up to the standard of the author's performance. However, when I first saw it on television several years back, I felt as if I were being drawn deeper and deeper into a black abyss. It is the most frightening fictional movie I've ever seen.

It starts with a seemingly routine estate settlement in a small English village. Arthur Kidd, the unfortunate young man who is sent to handle the task, begins by odd incidents and heresay gossip to understand that he's walked into a very bad situation, but only realizes the magnitude of his danger when it's too late to retreat.

I'm a pretty tough and cynical horror movie fan, but at one point in this drama, I literally covered my face when I first saw it, I was so shocked. Since getting the DVD, I haven't been able to look at that scene.

But being on the lookout for THAT scene, I had forgotten the impact of the scene when Arthur leads Mr. Toovey up to the nursery, and opens the door.

This is not a gore-fest, so it might not pass muster for some horror fans. However, in creating an atmosphere of heaviness, hopelessness, and dark, destructive force, there are few films that even come close to the 'Woman in Black'.

My wife, son and I first heard of this scary gem when a friend of ours was performing in a little two-man black box theater production of this story. My wife being a 20 year veteran of local theater herself, and I having performed and directed some as well, were quite frequently attending local and professional theater performances for entertainment. We were all scared to the bone with this live show and were told by our friend that there was a video of this as a movie. We bought the movie on-line and hoped it would be just as scary. We were not disappointed.

If you can watch this at night with all the lights off and not jump out of your seat at the end then you are dead yourself!

We showed this at one of our annual Halloween parties after the party had wound down and it was late and quiet, we had about 15 people in our living room watching this movie. At the climactic moment almost all of them were screaming out loud!

This is a true Victorian ghost story that oozes fear and creepy unknowns.

This movie is the epitome of "less is more" in effective horror film making. It looks as if it were made for PBS, but because of the directors reliance on the audience's mind to scare themselves by NOT showing them every little detail of the haunting, he manages to do what many current horror movies only wish they could - scare the pee out of you. No special effects, no blood, no pulsating hip music, just quick glimpses and sounds of unseen voices and the very effective direction and use of camera shots to suck the audience into the terror of the main character.

Only "The Ring" comes close to the level of horror this movie produces for the audience...and that's a very distant second.

I highly recommend this movie, but only if you watch it for the first time all alone, with all the lights out and late at night. You won't be disappointed...that is unless you like the shallow, vapid, spoon-fed, unimaginative, gratuitous "horror" movies that are mostly released more to make money on how cool the FX are than to actually psychologically scare people now.

Enjoy. :)

I first saw this film when it was shown on UK television in 1989.
Not having read the book, I watched what I thought would be an average, made for tv, ghost yarn. How pleasant,therefore, nearly fifteen years later to be able to pen my thoughts about what is one of the most chilling and effective films that the genre has ever produced.

Set in the 1920s, a young solicitor - Arthur Kidd (played by Adrian Rawlins), is sent up from London to settle the estate of a recently deceased elderly woman. His destination is a small UK seaside town, just outside of which is the house of the deceased woman. His mission is less than enthusiastically received by the locals, who for the most part avoid the house in question like the plague. Set in salt marshes, the house which is called Eel Marsh House, is only accessible via a traitorous causeway at low tide. Once there, he learns of a high incidence of child mortality in the town, and starts to see the mysterious and frightening figure of a woman dressed entirely in black, of whom the locals are fearful and loathe to even discuss. Are the two connected? You bet your life they are, and when Arthur Kidd saves a young child in the market place, the hatred of this mysterious and terrible woman in black is then directed at him.
From then on, beset by strange events and terrible noises from both inside and outside the house, Arthur's sanity starts to deteriorate...

The film works to such terrible effect due to its simplicity. SFX are convincing but minimal. The Woman In Black only makes four appearences throughout the film, each one is increasingly scary though. I can recall few films, where a ghost has been depicted as so utterly evil and malevolent. The black shape when depicted on screen just seems to suck in the light around it and palpably emanates hatred. Anyone who has seen this year's 'The Grudge' may see some similarities in the depiction of the ghosts but 'The Woman In Black' is the more frightening. The film has a scene involving an appearence of the ghost to Arthur Kidd, which just flies off the Richter Scale for utter fear.
Adrian Rawlins is superb as Kidd, portraying him as a gentle, loving family man, and mildly cocky young solicitor who becomes increasingly distressed and unstable, as the events surrounding him become ever more unpleasant and terrifying.

Those of a nervous disposition or who are easily scared, are not recommended to watch this because of its high octane terror content. Equally if you are expecting a gore fest then forget it. This film is a supremely chilling experience to watch, and has THAT scene in it which will make your hair stand up on end.

A friend of mine recently viewed the dvd on my recommendation and this is what he had to say about it:
"Although there was only 2 scary scenes in there it's actually got in my head, you'll probably laugh but I was actually scared to go to bed last night and so I stayed online with my girl friend until 4 am. I had to wake up at 9 am today so I was exhausted getting up!
Also when I went to bed I didn't dare walk across the room in darkness so I put my TV on standby and had my head under the covers cause I couldn't get her face out of my head. There was also another incident downstairs where I made myself a coffee and somebody had turned all the lights out, so I almost had a panic attack and ran to the light switch.
Also I showed some of it to my sister's boyfriend and it freaked him out. I read on a review about the bed scene so I was expecting it (although I didn't expect it to be quite as it was) I dread to think what it would have done if I wasn't expecting it.
Oh and a colleague at called me a big kid at work today cause she asked why I looked so tired and on edge and I told her."

I do like my footnotes on these reviews, so lets not make an exception here... For afficiendos of 'The Woman In Black' there is supposed to be a slightly longer version (101 mins I believe) which apparently shows a fifth appearence of the ghost through a window? I have not actually seen this but this version is reputed to be around on earlier vhs releases of the film.

This is one of the creepiest, spookiest ghost stories ever filmed. Adapted from Susan Hill's book of the same title, the tale centres on a young lawyer sent to settle the estate of a deceased old lady. At the funeral, he sees what he thinks is another mourner, a woman dressed all in black. When he mentions this to others however, he gets a strange reaction and quickly realises all is not as it seems. Whenever this woman appears, so local legend says, a child will die. From then on, things become more and more tense as he becomes haunted by this mysterious woman.
This production uses no special effects or fancy sets and to be honest, I think it would have detracted from the film if they had been used. Instead, the viewer is left to concentrate purely on the story which becomes increasingly tense as it develops. There are several moments that will make you jump or send a shiver through you. Watch it alone with the lights off if you dare!