THE WOMAN IN BLACK (12A)

★★★★

PUTTING my theatre director's hat on for a moment — which I don't wear often nowadays but keep in the cupboard for emergencies — The Woman in Black is one of the few plays that I am burning to direct should it ever be released for amateur performance.

Having run in London for more than 20 years, it's a stunning piece of theatre which works because of the intimacy and tension that can be created in a live auditorium, so I was very interested to see how this work would translate to the big screen, and whether the magic that makes the play so successful would be lost amid the Technicolor maelstrom of special effects and ear splitting soundtrack.

Also notable for the casting of Daniel Radcliffe, fresh from his years as Harry Potter. How would he fare having to act without a wand and a flying broomstick?

I can tell you that the result is surprisingly good and worth the hype surrounding Hammer's latest horror story.

Director James Watkins (Eden Lake) has gone all out to provide this Victorian ghost story with every chill, bump and shriek in the scary repertoire, and the result is an eerily chilling, gothic ghost train ride that will have you jumping out of your seat every five minutes as faces appear at windows, strange noises whisper through long corridors and everything that can go bump in the night, does so.

Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer, recently widowed, who is sent to the remote mansion of a recently deceased woman to sort out her estate.

Said mansion is exactly what you would imagine it to be, hidden mostly by fog, and falling apart with endless locked rooms and creaking floorboards — a perfect setting to be haunted by a mysterious ghost whose intentions are evil and sinister, especially when it comes to the lives of the local children who disappear or meet a nasty end on a regular basis.

Landowner Sam Daily (Ciaran Hinds) is Kipp's only friend as locals all leer suspiciously whenever he enters a room, or wave their fists angrily as he passes by.

Local gossip has it, that every time The Woman in Black is seen, another child will disappear so, understandably, the locals are a little hacked off when Kipps decides to spend a night in the mansion in order to finish his work.

Back at Eel Marsh 'it's behind you' House, Kipps wanders around with candles, slowly unravelling the story of The Woman in Black from old photographs and letters.

This house has so many shadows, and such an abundance of strange noises, that any normal person would long since gone home but Kipps is determined to solve the mystery that has haunted the village for so many years.

Radcliffe's acting is sometimes as wooden as the floorboards that creak beneath him, but a period stiff collar and shirt help cover his lack of finesse, and his casting will guarantee the film's success with a younger audience.

Just as creepy as the ghost is Janet McTeer's performance as Daily's wife, who has lost the plot since her son died and now mothers two dogs who eat at the table and sleep in cribs.

The great thing about this movie, is the time old trick, which Hammer did so well in the 1950s, of making what you don't see more scary than what you do see.

The use of shadows, noises and half-glimpses of things that lurk in the dark all create a palpable tension which builds and builds, and holds you on the edge of your seat (and sometimes under it).

The ending, which has been changed from Susan Hill's original novel, suggests redemption and a sort of happy ending which wasn't necessary but doesn't do any harm overall.

So, if you can get out from under your seat at the end of film, make sure you bolt all the doors and keep all the lights on when you get home — this one will stay with you through the dark and lonely hours of the night. And remember… it's behind you!