Harry Potter and the Deadly Woman

Director James Watkins Screenwriters Susan Hill (novel), Jane Goldman (screenplay) Cast Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer

Anyone who has seen Susan Hill’s eery tale The Woman in Black on stage will know that the performance is terrifying. Even people who say they don’t get scared got scared in the theatre at this one. But that’s just it – in the theatre, it’s dark…the woman is creepy as hell…oh god, why is the rocking chair rocking on its own…oh my god why have the lights gone out….OH MY GOD THE WOMAN IN BLACK IS SCREAMING RIGHT BEHIND ME!!!!! I mean – you really get into it when there are several hundred people all having nervous breakdowns at the same time. So it was a risk adapting this sepulchral, haunting tale to the screen, where popcorn tends to distract from the terror.

But adapted it was. Central Television made a television production of The Woman In Black, which was broadcast on Christmas Eve 1989 and repeated just once since in 1994. This version was very successful, and is often described as one of the most creepy, paralysingly scary screen adaptations of a ghost story ever made.

So, having worked wonders with this version, why take the risk and make it again? Well, aside from the fact that the rights to the version made by Central Television are M.I.A. (which is pretty creepy), Daniel Radcliffe will certainly bring in a wide audience as the self-confessed ex-alkie graduates from Hogwarts to something new.

Let’s be honest – when you heard about this film you were pretty sure it wasn’t going to be worth seeing. However, thanks to its well-styled, very Edwardian setting and some clever story changes by screenwriter Jane Goldman, this version actually feels less like a remake, and more like you’re rereading an old story with new eyes, realising things you didn’t get before, and the whole film trembles with freshly scary resonances.

Radcliffe actually gives a pretty convincing and mature performance as Arthur Kipps (extraordinary considering he still looks like he’s twelve years old, bless him), who is a lawyer summoned to a slightly dilapidated, remote mansion to settle the recently-deceased owner’s estate. In one of the major twists from Hill’s original story, Kipps is a young widower, which perhaps affects him, and makes him associate more with the creepy past of the mansion’s stories. A nearby landowner (Hinds) tells Kipps about a mysterious, cloaked old woman who has been seen at the window of the old house from time to time. Even learning this, Kipps (foolishly) decides to spend the night at the old house to finish his paperwork, and learns a lot more about the old woman, who pays him a visit or two…

Director Watkins is a true expert in creating a permeating sense of dread, and he keeps you holding your breath with suspense for as long as possible before the shock actually makes you jump. Don’t be mistaken by the 12A certificate – true, there’s no blood or gore, hardly any monsters and ghosts in this film, but that’s exactly what makes it so terrifying. Like all of the best ghost stories, The Woman In Black only gets better in the retelling.