“Keep Calm and Carry On” has become a very popular saying these days. People have taken the liberty of replacing the “carry on” part of the phrase with various cute little activities, like “Keep Calm and Swag On”, or “Keep Calm and Ask Siri”, but the origins of the eye-grabbing poster are rooted in a much more serious cause: war propaganda. In 1939, with World War II on the horizon, the British government created a series of motivational posters to keep morale high during the inevitable invasion from Germany. Although only a handful of these posters hit the walls of England, they resurfaced in the early 2000s and gained popularity with the younger generation, sparking a plethora of personalized posters. Despite their popularity, some of the owners of such posters may not even realize that their favorite new wall decoration was once used to keep an entire nation quiet and compliant in a time of severe crisis. For Eve Parkins, the idea of going through the motions is one she knows all too well. The year is 1941. Eve hides out with her peers in an underground bunker beneath the streets of London while Nazi planes fly overhead, dropping thunder on whomever is unfortunate enough to get caught in the storm. As the citizens of Britain huddle in the rubble, covering their children’s ears and whispering prayers, Eve smiles her shy, brave little smile, and does her best to comfort those around her. A woman near Eve inquires as to how she’s able to keep up her grin, night after night, while such chaos ensues? The corner of her lip instinctively reluctantly drifts up toward her ear as she squeaks out that you “just have to”.
Eve doesn’t just plan on smiling and getting by, though. She, with the help of her co-worker Jean, have taken it upon themselves to evacuate as many children as possible from London and care for them in a safer location. The only problem is, they’ve chosen to set up their orphanage at Eel Marsh House — the same Eel Marsh House that Arthur Kipps resided in forty years prior. It isn’t long before the house shows a different side of itself, as the woman in black makes herself known through vacant rocking chairs swaying back and forth, ancient toys moving about seemingly of their own account, and children walking straight into certain death, as if in a trance. With Jean denying any chance of a sinister spirit lurking in the home, Eve turns to her new friend Harry, a pilot in the air force, to aid her in her mission to uncover the true history of the woman in black.
Just like the first movie, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death can attribute much of its success to its setting. The hazy streets of the abandoned town, leading up to the long stretch of road through muddy paths and slippery corners helps to create a dreary sense of doom, and stylistically nails the tone of the film. The house itself is a beautifully lonely, run-down shadow of its former self, which is so damp and dark that it begs the question if it ever truly did see better days. Director Tom Harper does a great job of using his surroundings to his advantage, and adequately conveys an unwelcome presence on the property through some truly haunting footage, like the wide-shots of the jeep driving down the narrow road to the Eel Marsh House, or the child sleepwalking across the lawn, or even the simple yet effective shot of Eve standing in front of a wicked tree and watching the children play. Harper proves that he is a worthy adversary to James Watkins, the director of The Woman in Black, but he never quite captures the same bleak feeling of isolation and despair as his predecessor.
The tie-in between the storyline of The Woman in Black and World War II is very inspired, but but the film misses opportunities to really drive the parallels between the two events home. For example, one of the orphans, Edward, recently lost both of his parents during a bombing. Eve and Edward feel a connection, for she has lost someone too, and soon, they begin to fill the gaps of each others’ lives and develop a familial bond, like mother and son. Although the set up for their relationship is fitting, it’s hard to be completely convinced by their chemistry because a conversation that needed to happen didn’t happen. During the climax, the film could’ve been taken up a notch if Eve had said something to Edward along the lines of “it’s not fair that you lost your parents, and it’s not fair that we’re in this terrible war, but life isn’t fair. If we can get through this war, we can get through anything, we just have to keep on smiling and surviving because at least we’re still here. We should be grateful that we found each other, and I’m not giving you up just because some malevolent spirit wants you for herself”. Unfortunately, words like these are never exchanged between the two, which is a shame, because it would’ve brought the war, the sense of loss, and Eve’s impenetrable smile full circle, and made it a completely fleshed-out feature. But alas, the film settles for quick jump scares, and uses the impending threat of war as a crutch to disturb its audience, instead of creating its own permeating terror.
Overall, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is a pretty entertaining movie. Although they are brief, the quick moments of a bird suddenly flying into view out of nowhere or a hand slipping quietly over a shoulder are creepy and effective. Phoebe Fox plays a very sympathetic and lovely Eve Parkins, and is an easy protagonist to get behind and root for. In a world where we’ve come to expect sequels to be half the film that the original was, The Woman in Black 2 is a refreshing second installment to a promising series. I’d argue that there’s plenty of room for this franchise to grow, and I look forward to the next chapter.
