'The Woman in Black' Reviews are Mixed, Radcliffe debuts 1st Major Role since Harry Potter
The film "The Woman in Black" starring Daniel Radcliffe has received mixed reviews from film critics so far and it's getting better than expected results at the box office, according to reports.
The horror thriller tells the story of a lawyer (Radcliffe) sent to a remote village where a house is haunted by the ghost of a woman who is determined to find vengeance and no one, not even the children are safe from her.
The movie earned 62 percent of positive reviews on the site Metacritic while it got 63 percent in Rotten Tomatoes and a 66.3 percent on Movie Review Intelligence.
"Not since young Hutter arrived at Orlok's castle in 'Nosferatu' has a journey to a dreaded house been more fearsome... The house is a masterpiece of production design, crumbling, forlorn, filled with faded and jumbled Victorian possessions," wrote Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Critics also praised Radcliffe's performance, who marks his first major role outside the Harry Potter series.
"An old-fashioned, tastefully constrained supernatural thriller.... [Radcliffe] delivers nicely, conveying a lot in a performance that requires an excessive amount of silent tiptoeing.... this is a movie of quiet spookiness rather than loud BOO!s," wrote Lisa Schwarzbaum with Entertainment Weekly.
Less positive reviews pointed that the movie almost suffocates on its gothic "kitsch":
"...very nearly suffocates under the mounting weight of its gothic kitsch -- an abandoned house, child ghosts, spooky dolls, oh my! -- but nevertheless summons ornately crafted, old-fashioned suspense," Jake Coyle reviewed for the Associated Press.
The film opened in nearly 3,000 theaters in the United States and is seems to have performed beyond expectations during its opening day yesterday,
According to Deadline.com the film earned 8.8 million on its opening day, citing sources. Forecasters predicted the movie to gross $7.5 million to $8 million on Friday and a total of $11 million during the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.com.
The film is directed by James Watkins (Eden Lake), written by Jane Goldman (X-MEN First Class) and based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill.
