I quite enjoyed “The Woman in Black”; it wasn’t the scariest film ever made, but it had one of the most palpable atmospheres of any modern horror film in recent memory, as well as one of the most beautifully shot and competently acted. Of course, the production team had to grace us  with a sequel after their pockets became bigger from the first installment. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but only if it is handled in the same light as the original, not as a cash grab. Being an independent production, “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death” seemed more sincere than the average horror sequel, which is usually found in English horror, and the trailers to the film impressed me for the most part, so I went into the film with a bit of anticipation. But did the film creep and creek the way we wanted it to?

First things first: the acting in this film is fantastic, primarily from the lead female roles filled by Phoebe Fox and Helen McCrory, playing two sides of the spectrum of both age and outlook with Fox playing the young, wide eyed optimist while McCrory plays the older, experienced and strict headmistress of the school moved to Eel Marsh House. Jeremy Irvine plays a fairly cliché love interest to Fox, but Irvine works with his material as he sees fit, which works out for the best in terms of the acting aspect of the film.

The film is also shot beautifully, echoing some of the best of British cinema. While some of the film is very dimly lit, it fits the feel of the film, which in turn works out. But here’s where it all goes wrong: “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death” is a horror film, which implies that it should be scary. The film packs the same atmosphere as the first film, but the screenplay penned by Jon Croker forgoes the subtle imagery of the previous film for jump scares, one right after the other, which is fine, but after the third time it becomes obnoxious, especially when none of the jumps are valid. They’re all false scares just to distract the audience, which in the end, brings the film down a lot. After a while, the film annoyed me with the constant attempts at shocking the audience randomly.

Unfortunately, when a horror film does nothing but add loud noises to random objects, it simply doesn’t do enough to warrant a recommendation, no matter how well shot and acted it is, which is unfortunately the case with “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death.” The film sacrifices atmosphere for shocks and loses much of the effect that made the original “The Woman in Black” so effective. Hammer Films has a lot to live up to with their past films, so it’s very underwhelming to see this as their latest offer. I’m hoping that Phoebe Fox has a big break in the future and glad that Helen McCrory and Jeremy Irvine have impressive enough repetoires to reminisce on, and that makes the sheer disappointment of “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death” easier to swallow.

2.5/5

Photo courtesy of Relativity Media

Directed by: Tom Harper
Starring: Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, Ned Dennehy.
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some disturbing and frightening images, and for thematic elements.

Relativity Media, Hammer Films, and Entertainment One present, a Talisman production, in association with Hammer Films, “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death”