The Woman in Black (1989)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Woman in Black (1989) – H. Wise

This British TV movie (not the more recent Daniel Radcliffe big screen release) was highlighted by The Guardian as containing one of the top 10 scariest ghosts of all time.  And, true enough, it is one of those low-key spooky affairs (not unlike the BBC’s M. R. James adaptations) that takes place in the early 20^th century where the old fashioned customs and surrounds add to the creepy ambience. Adrian Rawlins plays Arthur Kidd, a young lawyer who is ordered to attend to the affairs of a recently deceased widow who lived in an isolated old house on the marshes near the (fictional) seaside town of Crythin Gifford. No one in the village is keen to go anywhere near the house and no one shows up for the funeral of the widow, although the Kidd sees a mysterious woman in black that no one else acknowledges.  Of course, she is a ghost and, as it turns out, not a very friendly one (among the scariest of all time – maybe if you saw this as a child)!  Kidd eventually has to spend the night uncovering the facts in the haunted house and indeed it does send chills down your spine.  The screenplay is by Nigel Kneale (of Quatermass fame) from Susan Hill’s story. Although you might expect that this is the sort of TV movie where a happy ending awaits with the mystery of the ghost’s unhappy demise tied up with a bow – but you could be wrong!  Worth a look if you like eerie rather than gory, implicit rather than explicit horrors.