Book or Movie...There's Still A Woman In Black

I woke up this morning to my eight year old daughter (*S*) jumping on my bed and saying "breakfast will be on the table in 3 minutes".  She and my husband cooked breakfast this morning...eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, and my daughter made the pancakes and coffee all by herself.  She was very proud and even took a picture of the table all laid out with the food.  It was really good and I'm extremely full  (:  It's gray and rainy outside, and I feel a day of reading, movies, and a game of Monopoly coming on.

Photo Credit:  *S* (8)

Last night was date night at our house, so my husband (being the great husband he is) agreed to go see The Woman in Black, so we went out for dinner and a movie.  My sister (aka fellow book lover) kept *S* for us.  She had big plans for the night...playing outside, pizza, video games, and movies.   My seven year old nephew (*C*) knows how much his cousin loves Goosebumps.  He and my sister were picking out movies before they picked  *S* up for the night, and he spotted the Goosebumps movies.  He offered to put the movies he picked out back if they could just get *S* a Goosebumps movie.  Of course my sister told him he didn't have to put his back and they could still get a Goosebumps movie, but I think it's so sweet that he offered.  It just so happens that he picked out the movie for the book that *S* had just finished and returned to her school library earlier that day.  Needless to say *S* was super excited!

Source:  cd universe

Now as for the movie version of The Woman in Black...

First of all we were in the movie with A LOT of teenagers, therefore it was loud in the theater.  I was a bit surprised by this, and I thought maybe they all came because it was a "scary" movie.  Then my husband suggested maybe they were all Harry Potter fans and there for Daniel Radcliffe.  I hadn't thought of that, but it makes good sense.  Whatever the reason, the theater was full of kids.

I thought the movie was visually stunning.  The village, the marsh, and Eel House were exactly as I had imagined them in the book, very dark but beautiful at the same time.  I loved Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps.  I thought he did a very good job.  So much of the movie was him reacting to things...no words...just the expression on his face, and I thought he was great.

As I expected, the movie was very little like the book.  The names of the characters, the woman in black, and the circumstances that made her are all that remain of the book.  The movie did have those "boo" gotcha scary parts...you know those parts in a movie that you know are coming but you still jump when they do.  It might not have been so bad if the little girl next to me (I'd say she was 14) didn't scream like like a banshee at every scary part.  My husband and I did a lot of laughing at the kids.  You could tell they were bored at the first half of the movie, but when the action started they were into it.

Over all I liked the movie, but I think it's more of a mystery than a scary movie.  And my husband, who knew nothing about it going into the movie agrees.  He said it was a decent mystery movie for him and an appropriate scary movie for young teens...nothing to heavy....just a good ghost story.

So if you like historical movies with a great setting, if you like mysteries, if you like light ghost stories, or even if you just like Daniel Radcliffe, go see it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.


Next month's date night...The Hunger Games!!!  They showed a preview for it before the movie last night, and my husband says he's interested in seeing it.  Excited!!!!

My Thoughts On "The Woman In Black"

Source:  Goodreads

From the back cover...

Arthur Kipps is an up-and-coming London solicitor who is sent to Crythin Gifford--a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway--to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House.  Mrs. Drablow's house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind it's sheltered windows.  The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images--a rocking chair in a deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and, most terrifying of all, a ghostly woman dressed in black.

Susan Hill
Source:  www.susan-hill.com

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"And then, from somewhere within the depths of the house--but somewhere not very far from the room in which I was--I heard a noise."

From The Woman in Black page 108

I chose to read this book for no other reason than I saw the preview for the movie and immediately knew I wanted to see it.  Then I discovered that it was a book, and I always try to read the book first.  The previews look very creepy, so I was super excited to start this one.  However, after reading the book and seeing the previews I know that the movie must be only "loosely" based on the book.

There was a lot of build up in this book and lots of talk of how Kipp's experiences had affected the rest of his life, but there were actually very few ghosts.  The description of the setting--the marshes, estuary, the small village, the house itself--was very well done and very creepy in itself.  I could see the vastness in my mind and imagine what lonliness Kipp must have felt in that huge old house all alone.  One thing I would have loved to read more about in the book is the background of Alice Drablow, the late owner of the house.  Unfortunately all we know of her is that she was standoffish, had no family or friends, and lived her live as a recluse in Eel Marsh House.  I would have loved to know more.

I have to say that The Woman in Black wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.  I really had trouble "settling in" to this book.  You know how when you really get into a book and you're enjoying it you almost absorb the pages? That never happened for me with this book.  I was conscious of every word I read and found myself having to reread words, sentences, and even paragraphs often.  It really bugs me when that happens.

Anyway, even though I scare VERY easily, this book just wasn't scary to me, but I won't go as far as saying it was bad.  It was ok for me.  If you like ghost stories and are interested in this book, I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.  Everyone is different...you may love it. 

My husband and I are going to see the movie this weekend, so I'll definitely be doing a blog comparing the movie and the book.  I'm really looking forward to see the movie, but I'm even more excited about the very rare date night I will be enjoying with my husband (:

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An estuary is mentioned several times in the book.  I had a vague idea of what an estuary is, but I wanted a more precise definition.  According to the EPA, "an estuary  is a partially enclosed body of water along the coast where freshwater from rivers and streams meets and mixes with salt water from the ocean.  Estuaries and the lands surrounding them are places of transition from land to sea and freshwater to salt water.  Although influenced by the tides, they are protected from the full force of ocean waves, winds, and storms by such land forms as barrier islands and peninsulas." (Source:  water.epa.gov)

Estuary
Source:  http://water.epa.gov