The Woman in Black and Chronicle Review

I recently got the opportunity to see a prescreening of two shows that are coming out this Friday:  The Woman in Black and Chronicle.

The Woman in Black 

The first one I got to watch was, “The Woman in Black.” I had been looking forward to seeing this show when I first saw the teaser trailer for it.  To quickly sum up the movie:

The story follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client's papers. As he works alone in the client's isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent.

(courtesy of comingsoon.net)

My first thought when I went to see the movie was, will Daniel Radcliffe be able to pull out of the Harry Potter character and be able to successfully portray a single dad who is under a lot of stress to get money for the family?  In my OPINION I feel that he was able to successfully portray someone who is different from the boy who lived.

The next thing about the movie that I was interested in, and also nervous about, was the fact that it was suppose to be a horror/thriller.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I jump at the littlest things.  You can pop around a corner and say, “boo!” to make me in return jump five feet. No joke.  Well, I feel that the only aspect of horror the movie had was having it get really quiet and then all of a sudden something pops out and the music gets significantly louder.  I never screamed, but I found myself jumping numerous times throughout this flick. I personally felt that this movie had a Grudge-esk feel to it. 

I felt that the movie did an adequate job building up the tension to make this film seem like a good thriller.  The movie had all the classic horror elements to it:  Key characters giving the main character advice and the main character not following them, staying at the creepy house all night, people silently staring at the main character when they come into town, towns people being vague and not answering questions brought up by the main character, main character investigating creepy places by himself, etc.. 

Chronicle 

The next film I saw was “Chronicle.”  When I saw the previews for this movie I had no interest at all to go see it in theaters.  Going to see it for free was a completely different story altogether.  I had low expectations out of it, and left quite surprised.  To quickly sum up the movie:

Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to them developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities, and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.

(courtesy of comingsoon.net)

The camera angles reminded me of the Blair Witch Project, or Cloverfield.  The whole movie was suppose to as if it was suppose to be a home video.  I was kind of unsure about this happening, but when the main characters got their “powers” the camera became stable and wasn’t as shakey.

I thought it was interesting that this film approached the subject of what could happen if someone was bullied.  It also showed what could happen when people let power get the best of them.  I liked that the kids weren't strong at first, but through using their powers they got stronger and were able to do more with their powers.  My favorite part of the movie was the comedic value that it had (can't tell you the exact part to make sure I don't ruin the movie for you).  

Altogether, both shows weren’t bad…  I felt that out of the two, Woman in Black was more artistic, while Chronicle was more entertaining to watch.  Will I voluntarily go see these shows again?  Maybe Chronicle, but I would definitely have to think about it.