The Big Picture
- The Woman in Black has become a haunting and enduring ghost story that continues to terrify long after the film ends.
- The gothic roots and complex themes of the story, such as Victorian ideals of motherhood and grief, make it deeply rooted in British culture.
- The veiled woman’s ability to paralyze an adult man, her flickering presence, and her haunting transformation from a lamenting mother to a relentless child-murdering ghost make her a timeless and terrifying figure.
In the midst of the spooky season, nothing beats cuddling up in a warm blanket with hot cocoa and enjoying a frightening ghost story. One of the most enduring and spookiest ghost stories revolves around a desolate mansion in a marsh, an unsuspecting average Joe and a vengeful spirit. The Woman in Black has all the makings of a successful ghost story, and most importantly, there is always a chilling aftermath where gazing into the shadows becomes a terrifying prospect.
Though there have been several adaptations, the essence of this timeless ghost story involves an everyday solicitor, Arthur Kipps (or Kidd in the 1989 film), who is sent to a small town to sort out the documents of the late Mrs. Drablow. When he arrives, the paranoid townspeople greet him with suspicion and immediately discourage him from journeying to Mrs. Drablow’s Eel Marsh House, located at the end of a causeway. Over the next couple of visits, he is plagued by a mysterious specter clad in black flowing garbs and eventually discovers the ghastly family secrets hidden deep beneath the surface of the marsh.
‘The Woman in Black’ Ruined Christmas
With humble roots in a short gothic novella by Susan Hill in 1983, The Woman in Black recounts a ghost story that would later capture the voyeuristic horror of everyone across the globe. Spurning several stage adaptions across Britain, the ghost story would eventually be adapted into a film that was first televised on Christmas Eve of 1989. Film critic Kim Newman claimed in The Guardian that “The Woman in Black ruined Christmas.” He particularly attributes this to the adaptation’s ability to continue to haunt long after the end-credits roll. “There were after-effects, a mood that carried on after the film ended. You wake up next morning, Christmas Day, you’re still scared…” And thus, the titular woman in black became a terrifying specter that haunted an entire population.
Roger Clarke, in his book BFI Compendium Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film, talks about the “dark heart” of the gothic movement in Britain, surfacing a tradition of broadcasting ghost stories during the festive season. As an inherently gothic story with complex commentary on the Victorian ideals of motherhood, The Woman in Black is deeply rooted in British culture. We find out that when she was alive, the titular woman was forced to give up her child to her sister because he was born out of wedlock. In each iteration of the story, the child drowns in the marsh and subsequently, the mother dies too, only to return to wreak vengeance on the townspeople by killing their children. It’s a story about grief induced by Victorian expectations and a child’s death, merged with the supernatural and rage-fueled elements of the gothic genre.
‘The Woman in Black’ Guarantees Frights
Aside from the genre being deeply rooted in British culture, Clarke also notes that there is something deeply satisfying about the veiled woman being able to paralyze an adult man. This is particularly evident in the 1989 film adaptation, where Pauline Moran’s hateful stares and titillating performance gives life to the woman in black. She manages to capture the phantom’s eminent rage and underlying immense grief through fleeting appearances. Her masterful execution of the spirit’s dual emotions culminates in the scene where Arthur Kidd (Andrew Rawlins) wakes up to her face drawing closer into an ear-splitting scream, terrifying viewers everywhere. “To this day that woman’s face during this scene is still probably the single most terrifying image I have ever seen in my life,” one viewer wrote on YouTube.
But it’s not her terrifying facial expressions that remain with you after the film, it’s the feeling associated with it that clutches at your chest hours later in the dark. The character herself is beautifully complex with her transformation from a lamenting mother to a relentless child-murdering ghost. However, the most effective aspect of the woman in black is her flickering presence. For the bulk of the ghost story, we only hear dread-filled tales about her and in the film, we only see flashes of her menacing presence, always lurking in the back corner of a frame. Like every effective ghost, the woman in black’s power is harnessed in her acute absences.
‘The Woman in Black’ Is a Timeless Ghost Story
The elements of the ghost story itself give it its timeless quality. Although it is the titular woman in black that remains imprinted in our minds, the completely mundane protagonist facilitates the notion of “anyone can become a victim.” Particularly since the true horror of this vengeful spirit is that an entire town can become a potential target for her wrath. A sighting by any individual results in any one of the children in the town killing themselves, causing grief to the family and fueling the townspeople’s terror and mistrust of strangers. At the end of both the novel and 1989 film, we also see that she can travel beyond the town and follow the protagonist to claim his life and his child’s. Distance nor time is a restriction for the woman in black — both in her ghost story and in real life.
After 23 years, The Woman in Black makes a resurgence in the 2012 adaptation starring Daniel Radcliffe and Liz White as Arthur Kipps and the woman in black, respectively. The Woman in Black truly refuses to be stifled. Her choice of children as victims and her method of killing while inflicting psychological torture to the families is a classic element in of itself. It is particularly eerie when you consider that she was once a mother herself. The final scene of the 2012 adaptation really delved into this aspect of her and almost depicted it as if she was simply collecting these children to create a ghostly family for herself. Since her sister adopted her child during life, she would adopt everyone else’s in death. It is also the 2012 adaptation that involves an attempt at appeasing her by reuniting her with her son’s corpse. But her fierce grip on hate and hurt overpowers any remnant of love or forgiveness, leaving a lasting consequence on her victims and a lasting impression on us.
