The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death Review

The year of 2015 stumbles out of the gate with another laughable horror sequel. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death represents everything wrong with the horror genre today. Hollywood seems intent on providing as many jump scares as they can without taking the time to formulate an interesting plot or compelling characters, or deliver genuine scares. No matter how violently you gyrate your body whenever there's a loud noise in the film, you're not really getting scared. The movie is just tricking you into thinking you're getting scared. It's natural to jump when you hear a jarringly loud sound. And many horror directors today take advantage of this.

My favorite horror movies of all-time have little to no jump scares in them. If a movie can get into your head and under your skin, then it's doing its job as a scary movie and doesn't require loud noises to scare its audience. Psychological scares are what genuinely good horror films deliver. And that's not what a lot of modern scary movies, including Woman in Black 2, are able to provide.

The film is reasonably well-acted. The lead woman that plays Eve did an okay job, as did Jeremy Irvine. The real problem stems from the fact that they are spouting terrible dialogue and running around in a script that makes absolutely no sense. Some of the things these characters do are head-bangingly stupid, even by horror movie standards. And the explanation for why these people have gone to the Eel Marsh House is totally unconvincing. We all know that the filmmakers simply needed an excuse to get everyone to the house with the scary lady. Some may be able to overlook this simply because "that's how horror movies are", but I'm here to argue that it shouldn't be how horror movies are.

If I were to allow the film one positive, aside from the decent performances, it's the distinct visual style. Woman in Black 2 has a murky and dark tone that I thought was pretty well-done. There are also a number of potent images that really stuck out to me. If only the director had spent as much time trying to build a cohesive and balanced movie as he did trying to make some beautiful shots. I won't deny that these impressive shots are impressive. I just would have liked to have seen that same care and attention go into the entire film.

In some ways, this film is even more frustrating than a lot of the recent crap that's been released in the horror genre because there are one or two scenes where it looks like the filmmakers were actually trying to provoke some interesting themes or develop some emotional depth. However, these moments are quickly interrupted by more loud noises and they are left behind and forgotten.

There's not much else I can say about Woman in Black 2. I went to see it because I thought its predecessor was very good. It's one of my favorite horror movies to come out in recent years because it understood that an over-reliance on jump scares does not make a movie scary. However, they seem to have thrown that right out the window, and any potential for a solid horror franchise has been squandered. The series can now stand with all the other cash grabs in the horror genre.

I'd like to think that poor response will make Hollywood stop making horror movies like this. Alas, these films keep making tons of money, and that, in the current state of filmmaking, means we will get more of it. If something proves profitable, it's worth making in the eyes of studio executives. We've started to overlook a film's actual quality in favor of its profits. Hopefully, people will stop going to see these movies so much, and we'll start to get a steady flow of well-made horror movies. Until that day, we're stuck with the momentary sensation that comes from so many jump scares. Unfortunately, nothing that lasts.

D