The Woman in Black

THE GIST: A recently widowered lawyer, still deeply in mourning, is sent to a remote village to settle the affairs of an estate. He encounters a lot of hostility from almost everyone he meets and soon discovers that the mansion he's supposed to get ready for sale is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a wronged woman who terrorizes the locals.

The Woman in Black is the typical horror movie that fails to impress because of a barebones backstory that is weighed down by too many trite tropes.

I found myself shaking my head in confusion and disbelief more times than I could count, which is never a good sign.

Daniel Radcliffe does a fairly good job in the lead, but sometimes he does look a bit lost. And even the always great Ciarán Hinds has to work overtime to sell us his rather unrelatable character.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I cannot recommend this movie, even though it redeems itself with a final scene I really didn't expect.

Grade: 4.5