Is original 'The Woman in Black' novel as creepy as recent film version?

I finally got the chance to watch “The Woman in Black” the other day, and if you enjoy horror movies, you’ll probably really enjoy this creepy film.

Released on Feb. 3, this movie was directed by James Watkins and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Liz White, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer and Sophie Stuckey. Radcliffe, who is best known for playing Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series of films, plays the lead role of young attorney Arthur Kipps. White plays Jennet Humfrye, aka, “The Woman in Black.”

This movie reminded me a lot of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (even though it wasn’t about vampires) and “The Ring.” Set in the first decade of the 1900s, the movie starts when Kipps is sent to handle the legal estate of a recently deceased woman named Alice Drablow. Drablow was the owner of a creepy, old English mansion called the Eel Marsh House. The house is located on a small island surrounded by marshes and is only accessible at certain times of the day due to the tides.

The house is shunned by the locals and for good reason. Kipps comes to learn that the house is haunted by “The Woman in Black” and supposedly every time someone sees this specter, a youngster in the village dies, usually by what appears to be some form of suicide. Kipps tries to wrap his head around the situation while carrying out his legal duties and works against the clock in an attempt to finish his job there before his four-year-old son arrives in the village by train on Friday.

Just four months after its release, this movie has been a huge financial success. Shot on a budget of around $15 million, it has reaped box office revenues of over $126 million. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that a sequel is currently being planned. Tentatively titled “The Woman in Black: Angels of Death,” this movie is said to be set at the Eel Marsh House 40 years after the first movie.

I was interested to learn that this movie is based on “The Woman in Black,” a 1983 horror novel by Susan Hill. She is best known for her novels “The Woman in Black,” “The Mist in the Mirror” (1992) and “I’m King of the Castle” (1970). Her other novels include:

- The Enclosure (1961)
- Do Me a Favour (1963)
- Gentleman and Ladies (1968)
- A Change for the Better (1969)
- Strange Meeting (1971)
- The Bird of Night (1972)
- In the Springtime of the Year (1973)
- Air and Angels (1991)
- Mrs. de Winter (1993)
- The Service of Clouds (1997)
- The Various Haunts of Men (2005)
- The Pure in Heart (2006)
- The Risk of Darkness (2006)
- The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story (2007)
- The Beacon (2008)
- The Vows of Silence (2008)
- Shadows in the Streets (2010)
- The Small Hand (2010)
- The Betrayal of Trust (2011)
- Corruption
- The Going Down of the Sun

In the end, how many of you have seen “The Woman in Black”? What did you think about it? How many of you have read the original Susan Hill novel? What did you think about it? Have you read any of Hill’s other books? Which would you recommend? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.