By Tara Kelly

Staff Writer

I’ll never understand why people contribute millions of dollars to have the pants scared out of them.

The “Woman in Black” scared the bones out of me. I had to watch almost a dozen “Glee” videos on YouTube just to convince me that I wouldn’t see the woman’s ghastly image once I went to bed.

Everything about it was chilling, from the bleak English countryside to the gloomy, otherworldly stares of seemingly doomed children. Before the film’s star, Daniel Radcliffe, appears, the opening sequence leaves you hollow and wondering how depressed the movie will make you after the hour-and-a-half running time.

It’s no gore-gy or scream-fest. This film may come off as something that, had the Potter star not starred in, few would have watched, particularly because of the unfamiliar time period (early 1900’s).

Radcliffe would attract viewers, but his character is a far cry from the magical boy hero Harry Potter. Radcliffe is Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor who remains haunted by his wife’s death. As a last chance to keep his job, he is sent to a “Sleepy Hollow” kind of town to sell the property of a recently-deceased widow, whose specter haunts the manor.

If you go to this movie hoping to see Daniel Radcliffe scream his teeth out, this isn’t it – you’re more likely to tremble in fear than he is in his role. Not that his acting is bad – his portrayal as a young father and a struggling employer in this period film goes beyond the three-piece suit he wears for most of the movie. Less than halfway through, you almost don’t see the world-famous British actor you’ve associated from the Harry Potter movies (the lack of glasses help).

The scares may seem standard, such as a sudden jumpstart of noise after a minute of absolute stillness, but their subtlety leaves you begging for someone to scream and get the anticipation over with. The slow movement of the camera would scan an array of porcelain dolls and wind-up toys, all with glass eyes that stared at you, making you feel like you were looking at a graveyard of grotesque carnival characters. The movie also bends the innocence of children into a sinister angle for the story.

The scare tactic of this film is to both disturb and depress. It goes beyond frightening images. The ghost story itself leaves you wondering about the power of dead spirits who are not at rest.

It’s a tough movie to, well, enjoy, but if you’re looking for a film to have you clinging to the seat (or at least to your date, if you’re not one to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a forgettable chick flick), then “The Woman in Black” will follow you on the drive home from the theater. Personally, it’s filled my horror quota for the whole year.