When I walked into the theater to see “The Woman in Black” I came in with the expectation of a suspense film and not a horror flick. Although with my expectations low, the movie still managed to sink below those expectations and yet still make me interested in the film.

The film is about a young lawyer named Arthur Kipps who, after his wife’s death, is about to lose his job and not be able to support his four-year-old son.

To save his career and his family he leaves for a small town to investigate a house of a widower who has passed on and work out some of the papers within the house to settle the estate. What he doesn’t know is there is a curse related to the house through a woman dressed in black and his arrival may have caused her to be angry and take it out on the town.

The movie quickly wore out its welcome with the foreboding music and constant use of suspended moments to try and scare the audience.

I was getting bored with some of the predictability as the film went on. Before the film finally keeps the attention at the end, there is a significant lack of sufficient story development starts to become noticeable and that is where the music and silent tension aspects of the film start to become repetitive and, to me, very annoying.

A backstory involving flashbacks of Arthur’s past also fails to engage the audience in the desired catharsis in the film that the director may have been going for.

I came into the theatre expecting the film to be more of a thriller than that of a horror film. There were some moments where I found myself jumping out of my seat but, it became increasingly difficult to stay engaged as the film went on.

First big issue was that it was slow paced. I, at moments, found myself dosing off while other audience members were saying that they were about to pee their pants with the excitement.

I can’t say that I really felt at moments that scared but there were a few parts that had me a little jumpy. But I can say that the dolls in the film left a creepy impression on me. I have always hated porcelain dolls and this film did not help.

The acting quality of the film was fantastic and of great quality despite the film being slow. This was a great way for Daniel Radcliff to get back into films after the Harry Potter franchise. This was nothing of what I expected him to be.

First, he was a father and played a much older character. When I saw the previews for this film I almost didn’t think that it was him as the main character. Radcliff has proven that he is here to stay and doesn’t just need to move to Broadway to be a successful actor.

There was some humor throughout the movie. Screenwriter Jane Goldman could have put more humor in the film to draw away from the slow pace and keep the interest in my viewing experience.

Overall, the film was good but I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in theaters. Although the acting was fantastic and I give props for Daniel Radcliff for his ability to play older and breaking away from Harry Potter I would wait for this to come out as a rental.

It is better to not spend money for the ticket price and in the comfort of your own home be consumed by the eerie tone set in this old-school style thriller.