( EW.com ) -- An old-fashioned , tastefully constrained supernatural thriller , `` The Woman in Black '' embraces the elements of gothic horror movies with pleasing seriousness : If there 's a door handle to rattle or floorboard to creak in the ruined mansion at the heart of the story 's trouble , this production pauses for the sight and sound . And gray English skies with a likelihood of thick English mist is the unchanging weather forecast . The upside is , this classically creepy , unironic tale of loss and vengeance , based on Susan Hill 's popular 1983 novel of the same name , pays fair homage to the kind of fare that has long been the specialty of the recently revived British company Hammer Films , where Christopher Lee once reigned as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing personified Baron Frankenstein . The downside is , `` The Woman in Black '' devotes an awful lot of time to the sight of Daniel Radcliffe , playing a sad , frock-coated lawyer named Arthur Kipps , creeping anxiously through that haunted house , clutching a candle and an axe , getting nowhere . 'American Idol ' : Portland ratings drizzle . Deadened with grief four years after the death of his wife , Arthur is dispatched to a remote English village to sort out a deceased woman 's estate . There , in his own melancholy , the lawyer barely notices how fear has warped the secretive residents of the village , all of whom know and none of whom will tell an outsider what ails them . ( CiarÃ¡n Hinds and `` Albert Nobbs '' Oscar nominee Janet McTeer have fun playing the village 's wealthiest residents , the only two who provide hospitality . ) Arthur does , at least , begin to wonder about the unusual death rate of village children . Oh , if ghosts could talk ! Instead , this inconsolable spirit makes her feelings known through more ghoulish means . Sherilyn Fenn , Alice Cooper in Syfy 'Bigfoot ' For a certain target audience , of course , the chief selling point of `` The Woman in Black '' is the appearance of Radcliffe in his first adult , big-screen outing of the post- '' Harry Potter '' era . These Dan-ites can be assured that the handsome , self-possessed 22-year-old actor delivers nicely , conveying a lot in a performance that requires an excessive amount of silent tiptoeing . The horror-loving audience who wants to be scared silly , on the other hand , ought to know that , TV ads featuring night-vision footage of freaked out preview patrons to the contrary , this is a movie of quiet spookiness rather than loud BOO ! s . B- . See full article at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
` ` The Woman in Black '' embraces the elements of gothic horror movies with pleasing seriousness . It 's an old - fashioned , tastefully constrained supernatural thriller . This tale of love and betrayal is based on Susan Cooper 's novel of the same name .