The Woman in Black: Angel of Death | DVD review - You can dodge the bombs, but not the ghost

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Woman-in-Black-Angel-of-Death
(Image credit: Nick Wall)

The remorseless black-clad ghost from author Susan Hill’s enduringly popular supernatural tale unleashes more terror in The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, the sequel to Hammer Studios’ genuinely chilling 2012 horror film The Woman in Black. This time, it is young teacher Phoebe Fox and a class of evacuee children, refugees from Blitz-torn 1941 London, who encounter her baleful presence in and around desolate Eel Marsh House, as does Jeremy Irvine’s tormented RAF pilot, stationed nearby. When things go bump, director Tom Harper duly makes us jump on cue, but the patchy script ensures the scares don’t have quite the same impact as before. Which is a shame, as the misty, moonlit settings remain eerie, while Fox does a good job of conveying the melancholy and loss secretly haunting her character.

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Certificate 15. Runtime 98 mins. Director Tom Harper.

The Woman in Black: Angel of Deathis released by Entertainment One on DVD & Blu-ray on Monday 13 July and available now on Digital Download. http://youtube.com/v/eYk0slXSY6s

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Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.