With Hammer's The Woman In Black taking enough at the box office to buy herself a Milan season's worth of widow's weeds, it's no surprise that the iconic British studio has set to work on a sequel to the Edwardian scarefest.
The Woman In Black did astonishing business in cinemas, taking $112m worldwide to date. It scared the bejeepers out of a phalanx of UK moviegoers (cinema takings here are £20m and counting) and exceeded expectations overseas too. It's the kind of rapturous reception Hammer will be hoping The Woman In Black: Angels Of Death will able to rekindle.
The setting, Eel Marsh House, will remain, but the time period shifts forward 40 years - presumably into the war years, or just after - with a couple moving into the haunted house and encountering all kinds of spectral goings-on. Fooooools! *Insert evil chuckle here*
A new writer - Jon Croker - has penned the script and Hammer Films CEO Simon Oakes is promising a follow-up that'll pack in all the scares of The Woman In Black: "It's a wonderful new tale every bit as atmospheric and terrifying as its predecessor. We're proud to be working with Susan Hill again."
So can this written-for-the-screen version capture the spooks of the Daniel Radcliffe / James Watkins / Jane Goldman version? With those 'angels' referenced in the title, would we be right in thinking that the young victims of the back story may have a role to play, or will the Nazgul be popping by for their holidays? Watch this space for more. Radcliffe, presumably, will not be returning - so who would you like to see in his place?
