History Film / TheWomanInBlack

* CompleteMonster: Jennet.

* ShoutOut: To Harry Potter, via [[spoiler:the afterlife scene being in a train station.]]

* CallOut: To Harry Potter, via [[spoiler:the afterlife scene being in a train station.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:The lye victim]], in a severe example

* DrivenToSuicide: Eye contact with the ghost causes children to calmly kill themselves in the most immediate -- and usually terrible -- way possible.
** [[spoiler:Also Jennet herself, after first being denied any contact with her son, and then her son dying in an accident in the bog and never having his body recovered.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: The title character appears to let the Kipps family pass on, rather than stay on Earth like the rest of her victims, out of gratitude for Arthur's effort to appease her and sacrificing his life in an attempt to save his son.]]
** Or maybe the only reason [[spoiler:Kipp's child didn't join the Woman's ghost army]] is because [[spoiler:his father died with him, trying to protect him.]]
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler: The final shot of the film seems to imply this. If you have kids, it's particularly unsettling.]]

* HollywoodFire: Used when [[spoiler:the solicitor's office burns up]]. Kipps charges in to [[spoiler:save their daughter]], and comes out with little more than soot on his face.
** And burns in his hands.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Arthur manages to reunite the Woman In Black with the body of her son which seems to put her to rest, and thus saves the life of his son, right? Nope, the Lady still can't forgive what was done to her and kills Arthur's son anyway...and Arthur himself.]]

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: See PetTheDog below.

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Arthur manages to reunite the Woman In Black with the body of her son which seems to put her to rest, and thus saves the life of his son, right? Nope, the Lady still can't forgive what was done to her and kills Arthur's son anyway...and Arthur himself. But she still allows the Kipps family to move on to the afterlife rather than claiming them for herself, out of respect for what Arthur ''tried'' to do for her.]]

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Jennet does her usual number on Kipps' son, leading to both his and Kipps' deaths, but they are reunited with Mrs. Kipps and pass on with Jennet watching, rather than their spirits being lost in our world like Jennet and her previous victims. Jennet spares Arthur and his son out of respect, since not only had he gone through so much in an attempt to appease her, but he had still given up his own life in an attempt to save his son.]]

* RealAfterAll: Sam Daily touts that Spiritualism is a hoax [[spoiler:knowing full well that the Woman in Black had taken his son as well, and that his son's soul regularly takes possession of his wife]].

** [[spoiler:Also Jennet herself, after being denied any contact with her son.]]

** [[spoiler:Also Jennet herself, after being denied any contact with her son]]

* PsychicPowers: [[spoiler:Mrs. Daily has a connection with the soul her son, who was taken by the Woman in Black.]]

* RealAfterAll: Sam Daily touts that Spiritualism is a hoax...[[spoiler:knowing full well that the Woman in Black had taken his son as well, and that his son's soul regularly takes possession of his wife.]]

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]

* PowderKegCrowd: When children start dying after Arthur arrives in town, the townsfolk blame him because of his connection with the manor, and at one point surround Daily's car as he's ready to drive out of town. Daily defuses the situation.[[spoiler:..before nearly running them over.

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Jennet does her usual number on Kipps' son, leading to both his and Kipps' deaths, but they are reunited with Mrs. Kipps and pass on with Jennet watching, rather than their spirits being lost in our world like Jennet and her previous victims, most likely as thanks for reuniting her with her son.]]
** Possible, but given that immediately beforehand we hear [[spoiler: Jennet's ghost repeating, [[MadnessMantra "Never forgive"]]]], as well as what Mr. Daily sees reflected, this may not have been intended outcome. [[spoiler:, Arthur's own self-sacrifice]] may have been what saved this from a DownerEnding, whether by dint of Jennet breaking her own rules, as in no incident that we saw did [[spoiler: an adult ever die]], or perhaps more likely simply because Arthur tried to [[spoiler: save his son]], something we never saw the locals do, and definitely something Jennet called her sister out on in her own letters.

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Jennet does her usual number on Kipps' son, leading to both his and Kipps' deaths, but they are reunited with Mrs. Kipps and pass on with Jennet watching, rather than their spirits being lost in our world like Jennet and her previous victims.]]

It isn't until later, as bodies begin to pile up--upon the bodies already there--that Arthur learns [[TownWithADarkSecret why]].

'''This film contains examples of:'''

* DrivenToSuicide: Eye contact with the ghost causes children to calmly kill themselves in the most immediate--and usually terrible--way possible.

The 2012 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film version]] of TheWomanInBlack, produced by HammerHorror.

[[DanielRadcliffe Arthur Kipps]], a grieving widower, is sent to settle the affairs of a deceased widow. The locals seem to be in a rush to hurry him along his way, but he resolves to do the job he came to do.

It isn't until later, as bodies begin to pile up--upon the bodies already there--that he learns [[TownWithADarkSecret why.]]

* CreepyChild: Any of Jennet's victims, postmortem.

* JustEatGilligan: The plot hole of the book is neatly covered here: whereas Kipps is notified before leaving that the widow had stacks of documents that would take him days to sort through, the movie has his contact in the village hand him a small envelope of papers and insist that this is everything. He's lying, of course; by the end of the first day, Kipps has a large and unsorted pile of papers on the table in the house, and he continues to discover more as he proceeds in his investigation.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The woman in black is only seen in the house or close by, in its grounds or along the road there. Nobody goes there, because to see her is to cause her to kill one of the local children. So of course when our hero comes to visit...

* OldDarkHouse: also a HauntedHouse.
* SkepticNoLonger: Sam Daily finally acknowledges the supernatural nature of the house and the existence of the ghost in the last act, and helps Kipps lay the ghosts to rest. [[spoiler: Well, he tries.]]
* [[spoiler: TheHeroDies]]
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: The whole Kipps family.]]

* UnfinishedBusiness: Jennet watched her son die, his body never recovered but left in the bog where it was with a simple cross to mark its place. Our hero concludes that reuniting the two may well lay her to rest. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]