Ever since I stumbled upon the decidedly creepy trailer for this movie last summer, I have been keen to see it (and not just because it was Daniel Radcliffe's first major post-Potter role, the plot line looked intriguing in-and-of-itself).
Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a young widower lawyer living in Edwardian-era London. Still reeling from the death of his wife four years earlier, Kipps is given a last chance to retain his job at the firm. He is sent to a remote coastal village to settle the estate of a recently deceased client. Unbeknownst to Kipps, however, he is walking straight into a crockpot of unsettling mysteries. The village has been plagued by mysterious deaths of most of its children, and nearly everyone is convinced that the ghost of Kipps' client is behind it all (although considering the woman’s circumstances, she did have reason to exact revenge on the town that scorned her).
I wasn’t fully sure what to expect from this movie, but it was without a doubt the scariest film I have seen in a long time. The individual elements of that fear (ghostly shadows/faces, creaking noises, demonic-looking toys/dolls ect…) were not very scary in-and-of themselves, but combined with brilliant camera work, stunning visuals and heart-stopping music, all the small parts combined to create a darkly beautiful tapestry of spine-tingling thrills (at one point, a woman in the theater let out a very audible scream- the first time I’ve ever heard one during a movie).
