I'm a massive fan of the woman in black, i first saw it on the bbc in 1987 when I was 10 years old and it gave me sleepless nights for 15 years! I then read the book and saw the play in London The 1st and 2nd of the hammar versions are good, very good, it could have been done so much worse, the way they portrayed the characters was brilliant, the actors were amazing, the set and feel of 1900s , the direction, cinematography and casting were fantastic! All very much in keeping with the original Susan hill classic. However, this was only half of what made it a classic tale. The other half was the actual woman in black,mrs drablow. The original bbc film contained one of the best ghost horror scenes In history and was done with nothing more than makeup a wire and great storytelling. I feel the woman in black in the hammar films are an afterthought, playing it safe with cgi and shock tactics, there was no feeling or relationship to her actually ever being a real woman, she seemed more of a demon. There was no audience connection to the woman in black, the original film got us connected from the start and that connection was a spooky one! I truly feel that ghost stories are wanted and popular but in a day and age of cgi and shock tactics we will never get another classic until we go back to good old talented storytelling.
On a side note was Susan hill ever called in to consult on these films? If not why not?
