Horror of a film

Ervell E Menezes

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The time is World War II and as bombs rain down London (in what came to be known as ‘the blitz’) a group of school children are being evacuated to an empty, eerie estate cut off by a causeway. Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox) is the teacher in charge. That’s how Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death begins. The dark weird edifice is an ideal setting for a horror film. And the children begin to experience strange happenings. So far, so good.

Enter, handsome miry commander Harry Burnstow (Jeremy Irvine) and one gets a hint of Cupid firing his arrow. But wait. Eve herself has a dubious past with an infant being taken away from her. So, she’s fighting her own demons plus the “dark force” awakened by these motley children. Then there’s the Woman in Black (Leanne Best), but what role does she play? Harry lends his shoulder to Eve to cry on when he’s not riding on the half submerging causeway. To add to all this, Eve takes a walk into the deep waters.

Suspense is sprinkled like mustard and dotted by doses of horror, but no credibility at all. It’s horror for horror’s sake. Not surprisingly, after 98 minutes of waiting, we have only a damp squib. Phoebe Fox does well to look credible in an incredible situation and she is ably supported by Helen McCrory with her poker face. Jeremy Irvine is at best fair, but for me this is a horror of a horror movie.