The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

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The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
Starring Phoebe Fox, Helen McCrory, Oaklee Pendergast, Jeremy Irvine
Directed by Tom Harper

Synopsis:
During World War II, Eve Perkins (Phoebe Fox) and her headmistress Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory) take a group of schoolchildren out of London and to a desolate island with an old mansion where they hope to hide away from the bombs and violence of the war.

As soon as they arrive strange events begin to occur, especially around young Edward (Oaklee Pendergast), who just lost both his parents in the war.  Soon children begin dying under strange circumstances, and Eve and fighter pilot Harry (Jeremy Irvine) investigate the property and discover an ancient secret revolving a woman who used to live at the house, and the shocking connection to Eve herself.

Review:
Chalk this up to another unnecessary sequel to a decent original.  The first "Woman in Black" had Daniel Radcliffe as the charismatic lead role, and an eerie atmosphere to boot.  "The Woman in Black 2" takes Radcliffe out of the equation and throws in relative newcomer Phoebe Fox as the doe-eyed lead, whom you genuinely care for and like, but lacks the ability to really headline a film.

The setting is the same, but the atmosphere changed.  The director relied more in darkness than setting, making most of the scenes totally impossible to see because it's so darn dark around everyone that you think they're in some sort of cave the whole time.  It doesn't add to any eerie feelings, just frustration as you try to figure out why you should even be scared, and just as you're thinking about everything else...

BAM!  Jump scare!

Alright, once again, jump scares do not equal horror.  They equal the body's natural response to something extremely loud going on after nothing happens for awhile, and it really doesn't add to the fear-inducing terror that moviegoers like to...

BAM! Another jump scare!

Seriously?  How many more of these stupid...

BAM!

Honestly, if there's another...

BAM!

...Just waiting for it now...

BAM!

...And there it is.  Honestly, there's about ten jumps in this whole film, which, once again, isn't scary.  The director had to be in high school still while writing this, because it's more hackneyed than any high school play production.  Somehow, someway, he manages to take what could've been a positively scary ghost story with rich, full backstory and give us nothing but...

BAM! Jump scare!

Summary:
If it were in better hands, "The Woman in Black 2" would've been a rousing success with a terrifying story with some beautiful set pieces and 1940s designs.  Instead, it's merely another jump scare snoozefest.  If you wanna see something far superior, I would highly suggest "The Orphanage."

My Rating: C-

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