The Woman in Black (3.5)

(Trailer)

2012 horror/drama by James Watkins about a young lawyer who is still suffering from the loss of his wife find himself in a small village and goes to work settling the will of a deceased widow as strange things start to happen...

I should note here that my liking of this movie was probably hindered by the theatre filled with noisy teenagers who screamed and jumped at everything. Literally, everything. Killed most of the scares for me. Jerks.

I thought Daniel Radcliffe was excellent in this movie. I loved him in this role and it I am overly pleased that he can pull of different genres and darker rolls. Heart you, Daniel. Keep it up!

This movie wasn't as scary as I wanted it to be. It was filled with consistent suspense and tension that made the thrills exciting yet horrifying. Oh, the woman in black IS freaky has hell. I also loved the use of old scares, like mirrors and ugly toys and creepy children. I really liked the direction they took this story and I thought that they nailed the mystery/thriller portion of the horror genre. It was a wild ride.

Disturbing and with an intricate and interesting story, I thought this film was well done and filled with tension. Mind you, it takes quite a lot to scare me so maybe I should've taken a note from the annoying rows of teenagers and jumped more often.

The ending though...what was with that?! I mean, I get it, but what the hell?

3.5/5 ADSENSE HERE

Chronicle (4)

(Trailer)

2012 sci-fi/drama by Josh Trank about three high school boys who wake up with super powers after discovering something in a cave. They are about to find out who they really are as their powers become a part of their lives.

While the trailer for this movie was interesting, I was worried that this movie would be about a few teen boys running around being silly with some super powers. It's true that this is how the movie sort of starts off but then it gets really dark, really fast and ends up being amazing.

I wasn't sure what was going on for the first 15-20 minutes and was slightly annoyed with the hand-cam aspect of the movie. As the story progresses and you get to know the main character a little more, the shaky cam makes sense and so does the dark side of this movie that slowly peaks its head out and then destroys everything.

I was also surprised by how well they did with casting the three guys. Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan were great as Andrew, Matt and Steve. Also, Dane DeHaan scares me now but at the same time I feel like I can't be mad at how he reacts in the end.

This was easily one of the more enjoyable and surprisingly well done sci-fi films I have seen in awhile. It was entertaining, funny at times, fast paced and then an insane drama with crazy scenes. Really, I still can't get over where the film ends up compared to how it starts. So cool.

Okay, I'm basically saying the same thing over and over again. If the trailer intrigues you at all see this movie. If you like sci-fi/super powers/dark action films see this movie. Really, just, see it. It's good. And the ending doesn't suck.

4/5 ADSENSE HERE