If you went to see “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death,” you might as well have stayed at home and had your friend jump out at you from behind furniture. “The Woman In Black 2: Angel of Death” used mainly jump scares and loud, suspenseful music to raise their audiences’ heartbeats and offer some semblance of horror. But really, there wasn’t much to be scared about with this movie. Moreover, the woman in black barely bothered to show up until the last half hour of the film.
The premise is generally the same as the first installment. A scorned woman takes to torturing innocent or “deserving” souls by killing off their loved ones one by one. The subplot is a little unclear, but it boils down to the fact that one is more vulnerable to the woman’s antics if they look her in the eye.
It takes place during World War II, where caretakers Eve (Phoebe Fox) and Jean (Helen McCrory) are forced to flee London in order to save school children from German air raids. They move to the country side, and set up in an abandoned house that, naturally, gives Eve creepy vibes the minute they set foot in the place.
The first hour of the movie drags on, with semi-creepy “someone is watching you” point-of-view camera shots and a confusing turn of events that leads to Eve finding more and more clues about the woman. Enter a handsome WWII pilot, who seems to be the only saving grace of the movie because at least he provides something nice to look at.
At best, the storyline is shaky and hard to follow, though at least the acting saves the badly written script. However, if you are one for many, many (many, many) jump scares, then this is the kind of movie for you. Sadly, most audiences are better off just re-watching the first movie and not wasting their time on this very obviously commercially driven sequel.
