The Woman In Black is a supernatural horror film, and the remake of the first film by the same name, released in 1989. Both films are based on the 1983 book of the same name. It follows a young lawyer (Daniel Radcliffe)'s experiences as he tracks down a ghost/force called "The Woman In Black".
Plot[]
In an English village, Crythin Gifford, in 1889, three girls are having a tea party. They suddenly look up at something off-screen and, as though possessed, jump to their deaths from the bedroom window. In Edwardian era London 1906, the wife of lawyer Arthur Kipps dies in childbirth.
Four years later, Kipps is instructed to visit Crythin Gifford to retrieve any relevant documents left by the deceased owner Alice Drablow. And as a prelude to orchestrate the sale of Eel Marsh House, an isolated and desolate estate on the marshland. Upon arrival, Arthur finds many of the villagers rather unwelcoming, though he finds sympathy in a wealthy local landowner Samuel Daily.
The next morning, Arthur goes to meet his legal contact, Mr. Jerome, who tries to hurry him away from the village. Arthur, undeterred, travels to Eel Marsh. There, he is distracted by odd noises, a bolted nursery, and the appearance of a spectral entity in funerary garb. He hears sounds on the marshes of a carriage in distress and a screaming child, but sees nobody on the causeway. He later attempts to alert the village constable, who dismisses him. Two children enter the station with their sister Victoria, who has ingested lye, but she subsequently dies almost immediately afterwards.
That night, Sam reveals that he and his wife Elisabeth lost their young son to drowning. Elisabeth suffers from fits of hysteria, which she attributes to her boy speaking through her. When Sam attempts to drive Arthur to Eel Marsh the next day, a fleet of local men attempt to drive him off. Victoria's father blames Arthur for his daughter's death, as Arthur saw "that woman" at Eel Marsh.
At the house, Arthur uncovers correspondence between Alice and her sister Jennet Humfrye. In her letters, Jennet denies Alice's verdict that she is "mentally unfit" to take care of her son, Nathaniel, and demands to see him, as the Drablows have formally adopted him, and barred her from contact. A death certificate reveals that Nathaniel drowned in a carriage accident on the marsh. The letter reveals that Jennet blames Alice for saving only herself and leaving Nathaniel's body in the marsh. The death certificates reveal that Jennet hanged herself from a beam in the nursery, vowing never to forgive Alice. That night, after the front door was tried for several minutes upsetting the dog that barks, Arthur goes outside in a thunderstorm and lightning and also sees visions of dead children in the marshes, Victoria among them.
Arthur finds the nursery no longer locked. Inside, he sees the Woman in Black hanging herself. In town, Jerome's house catches fire with his daughter still inside. When Arthur attempts to save her, he sees the Woman in Black goading the girl into immolating herself. The townspeople blame Arthur for this death as well.
At her son's grave, Elisabeth tells Arthur that the Woman in Black is Jennet, who claims the village children by having them take their lives in penance for her own son being taken. Arthur realizes that his son Joseph, who is coming to Crythin Gifford that night, is Jennet's next victim. In an effort to lift the curse, Arthur and Sam find Nathaniel's body in the marsh, and place it in his nursery, where Arthur lures Jennet to him. Arthur and Sam bury Nathaniel with Jennet, though her voice echoes through the house that she will never forgive the wrongs she suffered.
Assuming Jennet pacified, Arthur and his son Joseph meet at the railway station. While bidding farewell to Sam, Arthur sees the Woman in Black lure Joseph onto the tracks towards an oncoming train. Though he attempts to save him, both Arthur and Joseph are killed by the oncoming train while a horrified Sam sees the spirits of the village children, and the Woman in Black.
After the train passes, Joseph spots a woman in white on the tracks, and Arthur identifies her as his late wife Stella, the family now happily reunited, as the Woman in Black looks ominously on.
Cast[]
- Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer
- Ciarán Hinds as Sam Daily, local landowner
- Janet McTeer as Elizabeth Daily, Daily's wife
- Liz White as Jennet Humfrye, the Woman in Black
- Roger Allam as Mr. Bentley, senior partner of Arthur's firm
- Tim McMullan as Jerome, the local solicitor
- Jessica Raine as Joseph's nanny
- Daniel Cerqueira as Keckwick, the carriage driver
- Shaun Dooley as Fisher, village innkeeper
- Mary Stockley as Mrs Fisher
- David Burke as PC Collins, village constable
- Sophie Stuckey as Stella Kipps, Arthur's wife
- Misha Handley as Joseph Kipps, Arthur's son
- Aoife Doherty as Lucy Jerome, Jerome's daughter
- Victor McGuire as Gerald Hardy, a villager
- Alexia Osborne as Victoria Hardy, Hardy's daughter
- Alisa Khazanova as Alice Drablow
- Ashley Foster as Nathaniel, the Woman in Black's son
- Sidney Johnston as Nicholas Daily, Daily's son
Sequel[]
List of Deaths[]
- 3 Fisher Girls - Jumped out of their attic windows under the Woman in Black’s control
- Nathaniel Drablow - Drowned in the mud while being trapped in a horse trap
- Jennet Humfyre - Hanged herself in the Nursery (Resurrected as the Woman in Black)
- Arthur’s wife/lawyer - Killed due to childbirth
- Alice Drablow - Died due to an old age
- Charles Drablow - Killed before Nathaniel’s death
- Victoria Hardly - Drank lye under the woman in Black’s control and coughed blood (Victoria accidentally drank lye causing her to cough up blood)
- Lucy Jerome - Dropped the lantern on her feet due to being controlled by the Woman in Black and burned alive
- Nicholas Daily and Keckwick’s son - Drowned in the sea due to being controlled by the Woman in Black
- Unknown Children - Unknown causes of Deaths
- Joseph Kipps and Arthur Kipps - Hit by a train