Recommended for: AS and equivalent level Film and Media Studies
Capacity: 158 places
Produced by Hammer Horror and a 2012 box office hit, The Woman in Black has proved to be a very successful contemporary imagining of a modern gothic thriller written in a classic mode. This study day will focus on how it uses the conventions of the genre through film form and narrative to engage its audience. The context of its production within the recently-reformed British company will be considered as well as wider institutional and cultural issues relating to the adaptation of British source material, the use of star value and the importance of the UK as a site of production.
Led by Rona Murray, Freelance Film Educator.
Screening: The Woman in Black 12A
Dir James Watkins/GB, Canada, Sweden 2012/95 minsDaniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciaran Hinds, Shaun Dooley, Alfie Field
Based on the classic ghost story, The Woman in Black tells the tale of Arthur Kipps, a lawyer who is forced to leave his young son and travel to a remote village to attend to the affairs of the recently deceased owner of Eel Marsh House. Working alone in the old mansion, Kipps begins to uncover the town’s tragic and tortured secrets and his fears escalate when he discovers that local children have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. When those closest to him become threatened by the vengeful woman in black, Kipps must find a way to break the cycle of terror.