The Woman in Black Movie Review

The Woman in Black: British theatrical release poster. Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer and Liz White, PG-13, Released on February 3, 2012 in the United States and Canada, and on February 10, 2012 in the United Kingdom.

So, back in February of 2013, I read The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill - here is my review of the paperback. I had downloaded this ebook for myself in January of 2012, although I then grabbed the paperback at a Library Book Sale that Mom and I went to in February of 2013. Mom read this book first, and I started it almost immediately after she finished it.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and it took me nine days to read it. I'm actually thinking of rereading this book sometime very soon.

Back in February of 2013 - on February 9th - the DVD starring Daniel Radcliffe and Ciarán Hinds arrived in the mail. It has literally taken Mom and I over a year to finally watch the movie! Our DVD player had somehow burned out, and since we don't watch that many DVDs, we didn't know that we needed a new DVD player until we tried to play this DVD. :)

I received a new television for my birthday (along with a package of eight clip-on bookmarks and three blank journals - what can I say, I just love book related presents and office supplies!) Mom had hoped to get our new DVD player hooked up to be able to watch The Woman in Black for my birthday - but everything took just slightly longer than we expected it would. Anyway, we started watching the movie at about 10:30 P.M. on Tuesday night - or perhaps it was closer to 10: 45 P. M. By 1:00 A. M., the movie was over and we went directly to bed.

The Woman in Black was released in February of 2012, and is rated PG-13. It is a horror movie that runs approximately 95 minutes. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe (as Arthur Kipps), Ciarán Hinds (as Sam Daily), Janet McTeer (as Elisabeth Daily) and Liz White (as Jennet Humfrye). This film was directed by James Watkins, and was produced by Richard Jackson, Simon Oakes and Brian Oliver.  

Who Plays Arthur Kipps - A Young Lawyer From London?

While he made his acting debut at age 10 in BBC One's 1999 television movie 'David Copperfield', followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama, Daniel Radcliffe rose to prominence playing the title character in the Harry Potter film series. At age 11, he was cast as Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter movie - 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He went on to star in the series over the next ten years until the release of the eighth and final film of the franchise - 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.

Daniel Radcliffe began to branch out into stage acting in 2007, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus, and in 2011's Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In 2008, he revealed that he suffers from a mild form of Developmental Coordination Disorder - also known as developmental dyspraxia or 'Clumsy Child Syndrome'. This disorder is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood, which can affect the planning of movements and motor skills coordination. This is as result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body.

For Daniel Radcliffe, his Developmental Coordination Disorder causes such poor motor skills that he sometimes has trouble doing simple activities such as writing or tying his shoelaces. Many sufferers of this disorder have memory problems, typically resulting in difficulty remembering instructions, difficulty organizing one's time and remembering deadlines, increased propensity to lose things or problems carrying out tasks which require remembering several steps in sequence (such as cooking). Whilst most of the general population experience these problems to some extent, they have a much more significant impact on the lives of dyspraxic people. 

Despite having poor short-term memories, many sufferers generally have excellent long-term memories. They benefit most from from working in a structured environment, as repeating the same routine minimizes the difficulty with time-management and allows them to commit procedures to long-term memory. Because sufferers sometimes have difficulty moderating the amount of sensory information that their body is constantly sending them, these people are also prone to panic attacks. 

Many dyspraxics struggle to distinguish left from right, even as adults, and generally have an extremely poor sense of direction. Moderate to extreme difficulty doing physical tasks is experienced by some dyspraxics, and fatigue is common because so much extra energy is expended while trying to execute physical movements correctly. Some (but not all) dyspraxics suffer from low muscle tone - know as hypotonia - which like Developmental Coordination Disorder, can detrimentally affect balance.

Who Plays Sam Daily - a Local Landowner in the Village of Crythin Gifford?

Born and raised in North Belfast, Ciarán Hinds is the only son in a family of five children. His father was a doctor and his mother was a school teacher and an amateur actress. Ciarán was an Irish dancer in his youth, and was originally enrolled as a law student at Queen's University, Belfast, but was soon persuaded to pursue acting and abandoned his studies at Queen's to enroll at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

He began his professional acting career at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in a 1976 production of Cinderella. While he remained a frequent performer at the Citizens' Theatre during the late 1970s and 1980s, Ciarán continues to act on stage up to the present. He made his feature film debut in John Boorman's 1981 movie Excalibur, and has since built a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high-profile films as Road to Perdition, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will be Blood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, The Woman in Black and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  His television roles include Gaius Julius Caesar in the series 'Rome', DCI James Langton in the series 'Above Suspicion', Bud Hammond in the series 'Political Animals' and Mance Rayder in the Emmy Award winning 'Game of Thrones'. 

Ciarán Hinds lives in Paris with his long-time partner Hélène Patarot; they met in 1987 while in the cast of Peter Brook's production of The Mahabharata. The couple have a daughter named Aoife, born in 1991. Ciarán is also a close friend of fellow Irish actor Liam Neeson and served as a pallbearer at the funeral of Liam's wife, actress Natasha Richardson in upstate New York on March 22, 2009.

Who Plays Elisabeth Daily - Sam Daily's Wife?

Janet McTeer made her professional stage debut in 1984, and since then has won a Tony Award, an Olivier Award and a Drama Desk Award. In 1986, she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Newcomer for The Grace of Mary Traverse, although she actually won a Tony Award and an Olivier Award for her role as Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House in 1997. She is also a two-time Academy Award nominee.

Janet McTeer has starred on television in the title role of Lynda La Plante's 'The Governor' from 1996 to 1997, has received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Countess Rivers - the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of King Edward IV - in 'The White Queen' and starred opposite Glenn Close in the final season of the television show 'Damages'. 

She made her film debut in 1986's Half Moon Street - based on a book by Paul Theroux called Doctor Slaughter. In 2009, she portrayed Clementine Churchill - the wife of Sir Winston Churchill - in the HBO movie, Into the Storm. This was the role for which she earned an Emmy Award nomination. Further film roles include: Hawks, Wuthering Heights, Carrington, Songcatcher and As You Like It. 

Janet McTeer also received an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1999 movie Tumbleweeds and another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Hubert Page in the 2011 movie Albert Nobbs. She was appointed 'Officer of the Order of the British Empire' in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 for her Services to Drama.

Who Plays Jennet Humphrey - The Woman in Black?

Elizabeth 'Liz' White is perhaps best known for her role as WPC/WDC Annie Cartwright in the British version of the television series 'Life on Mars' - which was broadcast from 2006-2007. She also appeared in four episodes of the television series 'Teachers' which was broadcast in 2003. Her other prominent television roles include: Jess Mercer in six episodes of the British television series 'The Fixer' in 2008; and Caroline in BBC's 2011 adaptation of Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White.

Liz White has also had increasing success in films; making her film debut in 2004's film short Ten Minute Movie. This was followed up with her appearances in Mike Leigh's 2004 movie Vera Drake and in the 2005 television movie Angell's Hell. She also played Laura in Gerald McMorrow's debut film Franklyn and Alice Kelly in the independent film New Town Killers in 2008. She was featured in the music video for Bush's final single Inflatable - off their fourth studio album, Golden State, which was released in 2001.

My Review of the Movie Adaptation of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story:

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie adaptation of The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill. Something that I never realized was that the 2012 film starring Daniel Radcliffe, was actually a remake of a 1989 television drama adaptation of Susan Hill's novel. Nigel Kneale, who died in 2006, was the screen-writer of the 1989 television movie; and is perhaps best known for his creation of the fictional character Professor Bernard Quatermass - a heroic, intelligent, highly moral British scientist - and a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group.

Mom has often told me of her recollections of gathering round the television with her mother, brother and sister every Saturday night (her father would usually be out) - and the four of them would watch 'Quatermass' together. To properly set the mood, my grandmother would make them all snacks, start a fire in the fireplace, and turn out out all the lights. Mom was never really all that interested in science fiction television shows as a child, and still isn't, even as an adult - but 'Quatermass' was definitely the exception for her!

Anyway, the 2012 version of The Woman in Black was excellent; at least in my opinion. Daniel Radcliffe has certainly shed whatever remnants of Harry Potter that were left! While I noticed that there were some slight differences between the book and the movie, I thought that overall the movie turned out to be a very faithful adaptation of the book. The movie plot ultimately stayed as true to Susan Hill's book as possible, and I now have the strongest desire to reread The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill after seeing the movie.

As I may have said before, I'm usually very wary of watching any movies that are based on books I've read. I find that so many movies turn out to be very poor adaptations of otherwise terrific books. However, this is not the case with The Woman in Black. 

Both the book and the movie are equally outstanding; I enjoyed the movie just as much, if not more, than the book. It was thrilling and gripping, and was absolutely worth the year-long wait that we went through in order to watch this movie. I whole-heartedly give the movie adaptation of The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill an A+!  

May you read well and often