carnies and champagne

3-step movie thoughts: the woman in black

the woman in black

step 1: radcake was unbelievably pastier than usual. he also seemed a bit too young to be a dad. and probably should avoid train imagery and old castle type places if he’s trying to break out of the harry potter thing.

step 2: this was such an old-fashioned ghost story. which was fine, but I kept expecting something different, a more modern take or twist or something. and, more importantly, it was so slow and british that when I wasn’t scared (and I was, I will admit that), I was a bit bored.

step 3: the ending is ambiguous, which I like, but we thought of 3-5 different ambiguous endings that we would have liked better, which I feel like might not be the sign of a fully satisfactory experience.

final result: good, not great, unless you really like old-school ghost stories, wait for cable or free streaming.

bonus thought: the best part about this movie was the audience. it was a mix of your typical horror movie audience - a little loud, laughing inappropriately after being startled to diffuse the tension, making the occasional joke, and speaking to the characters- and an older audience looking to spend a quiet friday night enjoying a british period piece. it created some delightful mini-dramas and a lot of pointed coughing and shuffling.