The Woman in Black 2: A New Batch of Children for the Eel Marsh House’s Resident Angel of Death
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, the sequel to the 2012 British horror film The Woman in Black which starred Daniel Radcliffe, opened with an estimated $7.8 million take at the box office with its January 2nd US evening premier screening, reports Variety. Directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay written by Jon Croker based on author Susan Hill's original story, the sequel is set 40 years after the events in the first film.
Following the bombing of London during WWII, British schoolteacher Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox) joins the school's headmistress, Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory) in evacuating the children to the countryside town of Crythin Gifford. On their way there, Eve meets the dashing pilot Harry Burnstow (Jeremy Irvine), who is stationed at a nearby airfield. On arrival, they are collected by air raid warden Dr. Rhodes (Adrian Rawlins) who takes them to Eel Marsh House, the same haunted place that Daniel Radcliffe's Arthur Kipps left abandoned 40 years ago. Along the way, they were accosted by Old Hermit Jacob (Ned Dennehy) for bringing children back to Crythin Gifford, and telling them that they will never escape "her." At the Eel Marsh House, Eve soon finds the children in her care begin to disappear one at a time. Oaklee Pendergast plays Edward, the mute boy whom 'The Woman in Black' will be particularly after for much of the film.
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death has received mostly negative reviews from the critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 23% rating. Simon Abrams at Village Voice in particular wrote: "Flawed but genuinely creepy ghost story The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is disappointing, but only because it comes close to greatness...while Harper does often earn visceral scares from creaking floorboards and ink-black shadows, the potent, quiet spell is also periodically broken by gratuitous jump scares... That kind of pointless shock tactic makes an engrossing B-movie feel like a major waste of time."