Anguished Repose talked (here) about the highly anticipated new movie: The Woman In Black, starting Daniel Radcliffe.

Happy news–A new trailer is out!

 [via movies.uk.msn.com] When it comes to horror films, we like to consider ourselves fairly tough cookies – not even Freddy Krueger’s razor-sharp talons manage to send chills up our sturdy spines.

So, considering that we’re a brave bunch, we were surprised when this trailer, for Daniel Radcliffe’s new film The Woman In Black, terrified us.

 Based on the classic ghost story, The Woman In Black tells the tale of Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a lawyer who is forced to leave his young son and travel to a remote village to attend to the affairs of the recently deceased owner of Eel Marsh House. So far, so spooky.

Working alone in the old mansion, Kipps begins to uncover the town’s tragic and tortured secrets.

Of course, everyone wants to see how Daniel will fare in his first role since playing the world’s favourite boy wizard, but from what we’ve seen from the trailer, Daniel couldn’t be further away from Hogwarts here…

Here are the highlights from the trailer that caught our eye…

0.11 – It’s a gloomy day on the marshes and we see a steam train ploughing through the countryside – this is certainly not the Hogwarts Express though. We also see a close-up of a glum-looking Daniel Radcliffe.

0.23 – We love the menacing, enigmatic music. We’re shown a shot of a sinister-looking mansion that couldn’t look more haunted. If we were Daniel’s character Arthur, we would definitely check into a Premiere Inn instead, but that wouldn’t make a very good film.

0.36 - The inside of the house is even creepier – it even has a creaky wooden front door! That’s never a good sign!

0.53 - The fear-factor suddenly jumps up a notch when we get the first sneak peek of the title character – she is one scary lady! This is followed by some frantic screaming, explosions and general terror.

0.59 - Yikes! In our books nothing is creepier than eerie-looking ghost-children, and we’ve just seen three! Things are still rather manic, with the villagers telling Arthur that he shouldn’t have moved into the haunted house. We have to say that we agree with them on that one.

1.17 - Zoinks! A ghoul covered in muddy-looking sludge jumps out at Arthur.

1.32 - Things have just got serious – Arthur has gone all The Shining and is armed with an axe – heeeere’s Daniel!

1.39 -Like all good trailers, we are left with an image that will stay in our heads for a while – The Woman In Black’s reflection in the window. We think we’ll have to watch a funny viral video about kittens now to un-spook us.

The movie hits theaters on February 3rd, 2012.

Now that you are all excited about the new movie (yes, that ‘squeeing’ you heard was me, what of it?)…

Let me introduce Susan Hill who wrote the ghost story: “The Woman In Black”  in 1982.

[via Wikipedia] Susan Hill (born 5 February 1942) is a British author of fiction and non-fiction works.

Her novels include The Woman in Black, The Mist in the Mirror and I’m the King of the Castle for which she received the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971.

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better(1969) and some short stories especially “Cockles and Mussels”.

Hill’s novels are written in a descriptive gothic style, especially her ghost story The Woman in Black which was written in 1982. She has expressed an interest in the traditional English ghost story which relies on suspense and atmosphere to create its impact, similar to the classic ghost stories by Montague Rhodes James and Daphne du Maurier.

The novel was turned into a play in 1987 and continues to run in the West End of London, joining the group of plays that have run for over twenty years. It was also filmed for a TV movie in 1989. She wrote another ghost story with similar ingredients, The Mist in the Mirror in 1992, and a sequel to du Maurier’s Rebecca entitled Mrs De Winter in 1993.

 Trailer for the chilling new ghost story from Susan Hill – THE SMALL HAND.

Antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow gets lost one evening while driving home, and stumbles upon a house. Intending to ask for directions, on approach he realises the house is deserted. As he turns to leave, he has the sensation of a SMALL HAND clasping his, and leading him deeper into the garden…

Since 2004, Hill has begun a series of crime novels featuring Detective Simon Serailler, entitled The Various Haunts of Men (2004), The Pure in Heart (2005), The Risk of Darkness (2006), The Vows of Silence (2009) and The Shadows in the Street (2010). [Read more]