Woman In Black 2 Review

I saw it! I went with Holly the other day to see the first horror movie of 2015. It was terrifying! Definitely a lot scarier than the original, but the story line was not as compelling. The first 'Woman in Black' has become the main inspiration for our movie, it incorporates children (like we have) and the main focus is the eery setting (which we hope to achieve). There are very few 'jumpy' moments in the original, it really is a classic ghost story which is why we have been so inspired by it, as we're not planning to incorporate 'jumps' or 'thrills' in our opening two minutes, we're aiming to create a chilling atmosphere and heighten audience's anticipation for a 'jump'.

However, the sequel of the Woman In Black has endless 'jumps', I couldn't sit still because I was constantly screaming. I do like the shocking moments, but there were far too many and the story line was lacking. There was also less of a focus on the setting of Eel Marsh house in the second movie. I felt the house created all the fright before, but less so in the sequel. Although we saw less of the house, there was more mention of the sea fog which engulfs the island setting, I thought the use of fog was a clever way to create an eery setting. This use of pathetic fallacy added to the audience's anticipation as there was a lack of visual in certain scenes, the audience had to rely on their other senses and therefore put them on edge. I think this is something we can replicate in our own opening and dimmer lighting/ fog will make our forest setting even more terrifying.

The fog, which was so prominent in the second movie, also added to the grey colour palette. Throughout the entire movie, there was a lack of colour, possibly reflecting the wartime date but also adding to the gloom of the island. Practically every prop had been coloured grey or black, even the makeup used showed the characters with greying faces. The main character however was dressed in light blue throughout. With each costume change, she remained in a blue coat or dress, I think this was a clever decision from the director as it made her stand out from the dreary background and my focus was always on her. For our actress, we're dressing her in a white Victorian style dress, this will hopefully make her stand out from the grey setting but she will still look appropriate for the time period.

We've also bought crimson ribbons for her to wear in her hair. We're hoping the brightly coloured ribbon and our old fashioned doll will be the most important aspects of the mise- en- scene and a symbol the audience will remember, as the ribbon will act as an object of mystery later in our movie. This idea came from the Woman in Black 2 as there was a piece of red string which was symbolic during the second half of the movie. The length of string stood out from the grey colour palette and directed the audiences attention to a particular part of the scene. The camera and audience then both followed the red string, leading to a different room and a terrifying scene in the movie. I think using a symbolic prop is a clever idea to incorporate in our horror movie as it is a common horror movie convention. Some memorable props are the 'Annabelle' doll in the Conjuring and the video tape in The Ring.