After bidding his young son and his nanny goodbye he journeys up to the small village of Crythin Gifford where it seems the locals are less than happy at his arrival.

Determined to press on with the task at hand he heads to the old building which sits abandoned and isolated from the mainland save the perilous causeway which at high tide completely disappears leaving his alone surrounded by the water outside and the sea of paperwork to get through.

But he is not alone because inside the Eel Marsh House resides the woman in black and her story which Kipps slowly uncovers is as alive and powerful as the terrible and terrifying fate that befalls the children of the village whenever she is seen a fate that Kipps realises may befall his own son unless he can stop her.

As mentioned The Woman in Black is famous due to its status as the second longest-running play in the history of the West End still shocking audiences today with its striped down production where the two man cast and minimal set manage to enrapture and petrify people for over 20 years.

Luckily it seems that scriptwriter Jane Goldman (the pen behind Stardust, Kick Ass and X-Men: First Class) has learnt from the theatrical adaptation keeping the central story and the atmosphere central to Hammer Films big budget transfer directed by James Watkins.

As Goldman’s script keeps character development key creating an emotional centre to the movie that grips you from the start, Watkins, heading up his second feature after debut Eden Lake, makes sure that atmosphere is everything slowly amping up the tension till it overflows on screen in some fantastically frightening set pieces that will have you on the edge of your seat and then hiding under it.

Make no mistake this is a horror film full of frights throwing everything at the audience from subtle creeping scares to great jumps to nerve shredding shocks (none of it thankfully in 3D as once was planned).

What sets it above the rest is that when it gets going it does not stop with the intensity of certain scenes taking you on a dark doom filled ride which seems unstoppable like a ghost train running of the rails.

And in the middle of all of this is Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe giving a great performance and annihilating any idea of the niche many naysayers feel he would fall into. As the main focus of the film and appearing in almost every scene a lot of pressure sits on his shoulders to carry the movie and thankfully he triumphs.

His boyish looks and fresh face pale and bloodless his black ringed eyes betray the tragedy his character has been through at such a young age and Radcliffe perfectly embodies and inhabits the character of Kipps a man who is hollow and haunted even before his journey into hell commences.

In the same way the stage show employs every tactic available to scare its audience never losing sight of the sensational story it was based on the big screen version of The Woman in Black is a great ghost story, wonderfully adapted which will transport and terrify you at the same time.

Much like Arthur Kipps once you’ve seen The Woman and Black you will never forget the fear.

Movie Rating: ★★★★★ 

Trailer:

Inspired by the environment, the freaked out crewmates stories of unexplained events and the tons of true life tales revolving around the haunted hotel he wrote The Innkeepers returning sometime later to film the whole thing in the Yankee Pedlar itself and creating a brilliant old school ghost story which blurs fact and fiction and is guaranteed to spook you as much as the place spooked West.

The Innkeepers of the title are Claire and Luke played by Sara Paxton and Pat Healy the desk clerks left in charge of the Yankee Pedlar Inn on its last weekend before being closed down.

Both bored beyond belief the pair are also convinced that the supernatural is alive within the walls of the hotel and with only one night left they set out to get proof however the hotel has its own evil agenda.

Building slowly and quietly The Innkeepers is the perfect antidote to the flash bang gore fest films that dominate or screens these days. Keeping things hidden Ti West spends time creating atmosphere, which heightens the fear to the point where it boils over bringing about some truly terrifying moments.

The story is brilliant made all the better by the excellent performances especially from the two leads Paxton and Healy who play a pair of unconventional characters that are extremely believable.

Paxton’s quirky enthusiasm counterbalances Healy’s nerdy grumpiness and the actors play off each other perfectly crafting a friendship between two people who have worked together so long they are quietly comfortable and fiercely loyal to each other no matter what.

Also worth mentioning is Top Gun’s Kelly McGillis who pops up as a psychic who helps the pair contact the other side however the real star of the film is the 119-year-old hotel lovingly filmed by West’s camera its outdated décor and eerie corridors coming alive figuratively and literally as another character with a story all of its own that it is desperate to tell to the characters trying to hear.

With tons of tension and some great jumps The Innkeepers is a supernatural horror, which takes its time, developing the scares and the story resulting in some wonderfully realistic characters all of which is filmed in a very real haunted hotel.

Now that’s done I’m off to book my summer holiday at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, anyone fancy coming with me?

Movie Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Trailer:

Nothing like the plot point in Rashomon (“The shame of having been with two men means one of them will have to die”) is made explicit, but Seki’s allegiance shifts irrevocably to Toyoji and he decides they have to kill her husband. Seki gets him as drunk as she possibly can, and they strangle him with some rope and dump him in a well.

Time passes, the affair remains secret, and the ghost appears. Gisaburo (Seki’s husband) as a ghost is not really played for scares for the audience. He’s not glimpsed in windows or corners, nor thankfully with hair draped down his face. He’s just there, he speaks slowly, he can be seen by anyone.

It’s not scary, but it is creepy, particularly in one scene where the ghost asks for sake, and Seki runs off and brings it back, serves it to him and wakes up the next morning dangling the bottle over the well where they dumped his body. His appearances are just to provoke guilt in his wife and her lover.

And it works. Seki is thoroughly freaked out, too scared to sleep at home and being kept at a distance by Toyoji, who is still intent on keeping the affair a secret. She breaks down more and more psychologically, and then an inspector comes to town to investigate her husband’s disappearance.

Empire of Passion as definite similarities to the director’s previous, better know, film In the Realm of the Senses, though with far less sex. Far, far less. Come to think of it, that’s probably why the former is better known. They’re both about uncomfortable, doomed affairs where one party gets in over their head. Except Empire of Passion has a ghost, so we’re covering it. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it as a horror film, you’ll be expecting more scares and less metaphor.

But it’s definitely worth checking out as a period drama (no, that doesn’t always mean 19th century England) with creepy elements. The setting is excellently done, and can create mood all by itself, particularly when lashing rain. The characters’ psychological breaking down is engaging, and it ends strongly, with the conclusion of the investigation into Gisaburo’s disappearance.

Movie Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Trailer:

The film begins with the previous episode of PI: Paranormal Inspectors where we are introduced to the team debunking the ghoulish goings on of a couple’s house. Unfortunately, the PI team realise that these strange occurrences are attributed to rats in the attic and the fact that the husband had left the lids off of the paint; therefore they were seeing ‘ghosts’. After the faux episode, Jack, played by Josh Folan, and Damon, played by Chris Perry, the JD and Turk of ghost hunting get a call to meet a crime lord (?) who gives them the chance to film their 50th special at the West Virginia Insane Asylum.

Episode 50 really doesn’t settle into itself and from its beginning we’re shown randomly placed faux interviews with ‘doctors’ and ‘physiatrists,’ I presume.
Also, its style is somewhat confused with Joe and Tess Smalley not committing to the feel that the director seems to be going for. This is one of the major flaws as it becomes jarring for the audience and makes it even harder for you to get to know the already boring characters.

The directors throw in different styles of filmmaking. I thought this was supposed to be a ‘found footage’ ordeal? Instead we are shown standard film making techniques – as if we were watching a straight narrative film with the camera getting shots from different angles and they don’t relate to the ‘found footage’ style. All of a sudden we’ll have the characters talking to the camera and they’re in the middle of filming their episode, then back to a long shot of the corridor they’re in.
When the investigation begins we’re also introduced to the team’s rivals, an extremely religious… and annoying crew. This idea had the potential to be very interesting and could have added a decent layer and built up mystery and suspense. However, as they all enter the asylum things become messy as the crews all split up. There are some spooky moments and the directors had an interesting idea of showing and sometimes hiding the horror through interference with the tape. It works well, in the beginning, then, like most things in this film. It becomes rather annoying. The suspense quickly falls and we’re left with the wooden acting of the two rival teams bickering.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Unfortunately, for Episode 50, it really doesn’t deliver on much. It’s worth a watch if you’re interested in the Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project straight-to-DVD films, but really, this one does fall to the bottom of the barrel.
Watch it out of curiosity, especially for the ending where things go a bit different, but do not expect a suspense fuelled thrill ride as it doesn’t live up to the expectations of even the average horror films.

Movie Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 

Trailer:

The first story on the disc, Valley of Shadow, descends into laughably bad very early on and only gets worse.

A woman organises an expedition to a rainforest to search for her missing husband but only serves to agitate the natives, who become violent. This is the worst short on the disc and is poorly executed in every single way imaginable, storytelling, acting, cinematography, editing (the editing!) – avoid at all costs.

Wet is marginally better and has Monahan playing the lead role, if you thought he couldn’t tell a story… His character finds a jade box buried on the beach that has a horrible creature living inside that shouldn’t be released. Needless to say that the warning he is given is ignored and the narrative plays out to an obvious conclusion. Yet again the direction and acting is hilariously bad, I’m embarrassed for those involved.

Finally we get a segment that is half way watchable, House Call, sees an elderly doctor called to a remote house to check on a worried mothers ill son who claims to have been bitten by a creature. The way this one is shot is a vast improvement on the previous two with some actual effort going into framing and cinematography.

It is dark, shadowy and with a crude effect in post looks dated, but again the story is familiar and dull.

I’m afraid to say the only saving grace this disc has is its running time, a paltry 78 mins. Don’t be fooled into buying this on the strength of Romero’s name, it seems any budget was blown on getting his name on the box to shift copies.

Movie Rating: ½☆☆☆☆ 

Trailer: