The Woman In Black

google image

I like thrillers. Especially action thrillers and psycho thrillers, but not ghostly horror thrillers. Be it Korean, Japanese, Thailand or Malaysian horror movies, it's just the same. Why? Because I won't be watching them good enough...as part of the scenes can only be seen between my fingers. I find it not beneficial to needlessly scare myself with gross images and aimlessly shocking my heart. A bad horror movie, to me, is the one laced with comedy, and those that is full with shocking elements without any solid story lines. 

So, I kinda regretted my decision to watch The Woman In Black without properly knowing that there's ghosts involved. However, I could still accept it (except some that were blocked with my fingers). There's a sensible story line, albeit a simple and direct one, actually, but digestible to the mind. Shocking elements? Not excessive, but good. The proof is the amount of screams by fellow viewers. So, lets go to the story...

I'd say that there are only one main character for the whole story. Arthur Kipps. Kipps is a young lawyer in the 19th century London, troubled and not having peace since the death of his wife while in childbirth. However, their baby survived and is now a cute and adorable 4 year old Joseph. One day, Kipps is assigned to manage an old manor called the Eel Marsh, remotely located on a small island in the marshes, near a village. However, since his arrival to the village, Kipps never receive a warm welcome from the villagers, except for Mr. Daily. 

While working at the house, Kipps is disturbed by many mysterious occurrences, including the sightings of a woman clad in a black dress. However, as he works on the papers in the house, he finds out the secret behind the family who owned the house before and the deaths occurred near the house. The house owners were Alice and Charles Drablow, who lived there with their 7-year-old son. However, their son died because of drowning in an accident in the marshes. The body was never recovered. From the documents in the house, Kipps finds out that there is more in the story of the death and the relationship between the woman in black and the Drablow family.

Meanwhile in the village, child deaths occurred right after the Kipps mysterious sightings of the woman in black. It seems that in the past, there has been many deaths occurring involving the children of the families in the village, including Mr. Daily's son. Those children seems to die in accidental situation, but everybody know that it is not what it looks to be. Little by little, Kipps and Mr. Daily, although he doesn't want to believe it, know that these deaths has everything to do with the woman in black and the hideous history happened in the house before.

Prior to the visit, Kipps has arranged for his son and the nanny to join him in the village. Knowing the story, and the danger that comes with it, Kipps tries to stop them from coming but cannot give them the news. Now, he has to do something to avoid his son from harm. What can he do? Will he succeed? But first of all, what is the story behind the mysterious deaths of the children, and who is The Woman In Black?

In the end, it is rather tragic. However, there is a positive element in the negative outcome. As i would like to conclude, that Kipps is actually doing the woman in black a favour, and the woman in black repays his favour. If you are going to watch this movie, try to see if you will agree with me.

Not bad. And not bad to see Daniel Radcliffe in another suit other than Harry Potter's. Oh, and this movie is actually based on a novel of the same name, authored by Susan Hill and has been adapted in stage plays and television film prior to this movie (source of this statement: wiki).

KaraK

google image

KaraK is the latest Malay movie from KRU Studios on the silver screen, with screening date started since 26th May 2011. KaraK is a horror flick. Horror movie is not really on top of my genre list, but I can still enjoy one as long as it is not a movie without substance at all. My buddy actually wanted to watch another movie, but due to timing issues, we ended up watching this movie instead. 

In a gist, 4 college students who were on their way back to Kuantan from Kuala Lumpur, were stuck in a massive traffic jam on the Karak Highway. The time was already late and fearing they would be late for their classes the next morning, they decided to exit the highway and used the old road through the Karak Town instead. However, their decision was a fatal mistake. How come? The old Karak road is notorious as being keras (meaning sort of haunted). The students; Jack, Ida, Nik and Zura, encountered disturbances from the 'other beings' ever since they reached Karak Town until at a part of the old road, the disturbance led them to swerved from the main road and fall deep into a valley in a forest. With a broken car, wounded and lost, they searched for help until they found the house of Tok Malam, an old man of native origin, deep inside the forest. From that point onwards, weird and scary things occurred to them and later, the actual story behind the accident is revealed.

That was the gist. I think it is common  that people always meet with unwanted consequences when they go overboard with something. In any case, never forget that nothing is more powerful then Allah swt, as He is the creator of every 'beings', and always seek help from none other than Allah. One part at the end of the movie is a good advice to always remember; don't just memorize the words of Allah, but know the meanings and have faith. It's significantly serious when Zura opened the Ayatul Qursi and yet it's blank, the writing's gone. See it in another perspective.

As for me, the storyline is quite typical. And the actings, in general, is nothing out of the ordinary. As for scariness, the first creature in the prologue is perhaps the scariest of all, afterwards, nothing more. The elements of shocks and surprises are less than a handful. However, nothing so cheesy and it is not so difficult to understand. Still, a good job.