The Woman in Black takes place forty years later in the heart of the blitz. A group of children are evacuated to the derelict Eel Marsh House in order to escape the escalating war, under the watchful eye of strict Mrs Hogg (Helen McCrory) and her student Eve (Phoebe Fox), when things (inevitably) begin to go ‘bump’ in the night, and one child in particular is drawn further and further into the shadows. The sequel to 2012’s breakout horror hittakes place forty years later in the heart of the blitz. A group of children are evacuated to the derelict Eel Marsh House in order to escape the escalating war, under the watchful eye of strict Mrs Hogg (Helen McCrory) and her student Eve (Phoebe Fox), when things (inevitably) begin to go ‘bump’ in the night, and one child in particular is drawn further and further into the shadows.





Woman in Black story could be taken, and so apparently were the film-makers. The plot and the reasons for bringing the titular ghoul back to the big screen are either incomprehensibly told or forgotten in amongst everything else going on, and it isn’t long before the well-trodden ground of the day=good, night=bad cycle begins to play out. Having rather enjoyed the original despite a rather mixed critical response, I was struggling to think how much further thestory could be taken, and so apparently were the film-makers. The plot and the reasons for bringing the titular ghoul back to the big screen are either incomprehensibly told or forgotten in amongst everything else going on, and it isn’t long before the well-trodden ground of the day=good, night=bad cycle begins to play out.













Fox and McCrory do their best with roles that more or less come down to wandering about in dark rooms looking worried, and Jeremy Irvine (who appears to be rapidly transforming into Jack O’Connell) is fairly enjoyable as a charming but secretive pilot stationed at a nearby airfield. The child actors, particularly Oaklee Pendergast as Edward – the child who falls under the dark spell of the house – appear fairly capable, but for the most part are denigrated to background props or plot points.





While there is an interesting psychological horror movie to be made about terrified children torn from their families and thrust into what turns out to be greater danger than the infinite fall of bombs, but this is not it. Hammer, steadfast staple of the horror genre, has fallen prey to the cattle prod symptoms of modern horror, with merely one or two good frights built up around genuine suspense thrown in at random. Even the climactic final act feels limp and unwanted, appearing to build up speed before coming to a dead stop. The melancholy atmosphere and unrelenting paranoia of the first film have all but fled.





Angel of Death (a title that is really never explained) is not without some chills: the jet black cinematography and the likeable cast of characters do very little to stave off the plodding plot, unintelligible motivations and drought of decent scares. Poor show, Hammer. (a title that is really never explained) is not without some chills: the jet black cinematography and the likeable cast of characters do very little to stave off the plodding plot, unintelligible motivations and drought of decent scares. Poor show, Hammer.



