'Harry Potter' vet's new horror-flick footage might be clichéd, but that doesn't mean it's not effective.
By Eric Ditzian and Josh Wigler
Daniel Radcliffe in "The Woman in Black"
Photo: Alliance Films
If the teaser trailer for Daniel Radcliffe's "The Woman in Black" surprised us in April with just how darn creepy it was (as opposed to the more thriller-driven supernatural story we were expecting), the new, full trailer has opened our eyes to the full, horror-heavy potential of the actor's first post-"Harry Potter" role.
Our eyes are open, sure, but they also closed, admittedly, once or six times, as we took in viewing after viewing of the footage in preparation for our latest trailer commentary. Hit "Play" on the video to watch along with us, and then read on for a deeper dive into the action, which begins with a seriously eerie silence.
From there, it must be said, the trailer incorporates a whole lot of familiar horror-movie tropes. The first is those creepy children. Not only do we get creepy kids, we get creepy kids delivering narration in rhymes. It might be clichéd, but that doesn't mean it's not effective. And it's good to see Radcliffe taking on material that truly forces him to step outside the Quidditch pitch.
Between "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway, then "The Woman in Black" and fare like "All Quiet on the Western Front," the 22-year-old actor isn't shying away from less-poppy projects. That's all part of his plan: different material, no break after his decade-long "Potter" run.
"If I had been taking some time off and not doing stuff, I think the temptation in terms of the media and the public, to a certain extent, is [that] if you don't hear from a child star for a while, you can kind of condemn them to the been-and-gone pile," Radcliffe told MTV News in the spring. "I wanted to make sure that didn't happen."
We haven't, however, gotten to see much of his creative range in any of the "Woman in Black" trailers. What we have seen is that he's excellent at staring at things. In the new footage, he stares from carriages, out windows, in mansions, and just kind of longingly off into the distance. Perhaps Radcliffe has been taking some lessons from Derek Zoolander. Hey, if he can just stare at things for the next 20 years, he's guaranteed a career.
Halfway through the trailer, we find ourselves facing another horror movie cliché: bloody writing on the wall. Listen up, people! If you ever find bloody writing on a wall, get the hell out of there! If this moment occurs, say, 20 minutes into the movie, the entire thing should be 25 minutes long, with the last five minutes devoted to a single uncut shot of Radcliffe fleeing as fast as his little legs will take him.
Yet this literal writing-on-the-wall gives us the biggest — or, really, the only — peek into the film's plot, which the trailer, to its credit, doesn't deeply explore. Here's what we already know: Based on a 1983 novel by Susan Hill, the story follows Radcliffe's Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer dispatched to sort out a recently deceased client's affairs, only to discover the nearby town is haunted by the ghost of a scorned woman. So does the bloody writing relate to the past, scorn-producing events? To someone speaking from beyond the grave? Possibly to Radcliffe himself?
There are many different ways to interpret it. Many interpretations, yes, but only one conclusion: Run, Harry, run! But run, clearly, he does not do soon enough, as the trailer ends with Radcliffe coming dangerously close to a demonic-looking woman. Is this the woman in black? Well, it's a woman and she's wearing black. And she has those blacked-out eyes, a nod to a photo earlier in the trailer, featuring a family with scratched-out eyes. So, for now, we'll keep an open mind on everything except this: "Woman in Black" looks pretty damn scary.
Now, we'll open our eyes. Please excuse us while we go throw up.
Check out everything we've got on "The Woman in Black."
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