During the bombing of the Second World War, Eve and Jean, two schoolteachers, who evacuate the children to Eal Marsh House, where they are shocked by finding out that they are not alone, the thing that challenges them, as they struggle against survival from the woman in black.
Tom Harper does a truly admirable job of using atmosphere and the movie's creepy setting to give audiences a sense of unease, but moves away from the deadly force we were introduced to in 2012, which feels like a bit of a step backwards.
Director Tom Harper conveys this theme through dark, moldy-looking mise-en-scene and the uniformly sullen performances he elicits from the cast; you're more likely to find this depressing than scary.
Offering nothing new in the way of shocks and suspense and relying on tired horror tropes, this is a tiresome slog rather than a chilling sequel. A disappointing follow-up to the far superior original.
"The Woman in Black 2" might have served as an effective tribute to movies like "Curse of the Cat People." That is, if it hadn't completely squandered all this goodwill in its last third.
The sequel is about as far from the original source as you can get while still using the title, The Woman in Black. It is just as far away from being interesting.
