‘She never forgives. She never forgets. She never left.’
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death is a 2014 British horror film directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay by Jon Croker, based on a story by Susan Hill. It stars Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine, Leanne Best, Ned Dennehy and Adrian Rawlins.
Hammer Films CEO Simon Oakes has let it be known that this sequel to The Woman in Black (2012) is intended to be the start of a new franchise.
Plot:
As bombs rain down on London during the Blitz of World War II, a group of school children are evacuated with Eve, their young and beautiful schoolteacher, to the safety of the English countryside.
Taken to an old and empty estate, cut off by a causeway from the mainland, they are left at Eel Marsh House.
One by one the children begin acting strangely, and Eve, with the help of local military commander Harry, discovers that the group has awoken a dark force even more terrifying and evil than the city’s air raids. Eve must now confront her own demons to save the children and survive The Woman in Black…
Reviews:
“If you’re looking for a good old fashioned haunted house horror then The Woman in Black: Angel of Death should be right up your street. Where, in my opinion, the first Woman in Black (starring a rather wooden Daniel Radcliffe) failed to make a lasting impression, this sequel has you sitting uncomfortably from the start, in part thanks to a much better lead actor (Phoebe Fox).” Step Into Film
“The Woman in Black 2 Angel of Death is brimming with great imagery courtesy of the rich location, but the Eel Marsh House alone isn’t enough to make this a worthy sequel to the 2012 original. The Woman in Black mythology is in there, but this time around it takes a back seat to an endless string of cheap and desperate scares.” Perri Nemiroff, Collider
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“There are quite a few decent frights in the film and at times the tension is palpable. Overall the suspense is very well done but I do have one complaint that some of the frights are cheap jump scares that most will see coming but they are few and there are much better scares to put the film back on track.” Michael Juvinall, The Horror Society
“Some of its shock tactics are silly and derivative but the film ends in bravura fashion with a sweeping, one-shot sequence worthy of Terence Davies – one that suggests we won’t have to wait too long for the next sequel.” Geoffrey MacNab, The Independent
” …nothing much happens at all for the first hour of the new movie … aside from a few floorboards creaking, doors slamming and decrepit wind-up toys being brought mysteriously back to life. It’s clear that the Woman in Black (aka Jennet Humfrye) is stirring again, but boy does she take her sweet time about making a full-fledged appearance.” Scott Foundass, Variety
“It’s a traditional, sometimes predictable horror film, for sure, and lacks the depth and lasting resonance of something like The Babadook. But Angel Of Death is also atmospheric, well-acted, and laden with enough scares to leave us shuddering while the theatre lights are down.” Den of Geek
“The best scenes here use these specifics: a fake airplane landing field location; a gruesome use for a gas mask; the repressed guilt of survivors. But inevitably, back to the house and its black widow we go, and it’s business as usual.” Leigh Singer, IGN
Choice dialogue:
Doctor Rose: “Rooms aren’t sad, Miss Parkins. People are.”
Cast and characters:
- Phoebe Fox as Eve Parkins – Deputy Headmistress
- Jeremy Irvine as Harry Burnstow
- Helen McCrory as Jean Hogg – Headmistress
- Adrian Rawlins as Doctor Rose
- Leanne Best as The Woman in Black
- Ned Dennehy as Old Hermit Jacob
- Oaklee Pendergast as Edward
- Jude Wright as Tom
