Parents' Guide to The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

Director Tom Harper's horror sequel suffers from being unnecessary and also pretty boring in the frights department. Although there are a few jump-worthy moments and predictable scary-movie cliches -- creaky floorboards, terrifying dolls, and a rocking chair that seems to move on its own -- the movie doesn't work as a whole. The actors are all capable -- McCrory (probably best known for playing Narcissa Malfoy) knows how to play a stern-faced "battle axe," Fox is quite adept at being a doe-eyed ingenue who loves her school kids, and Jeremy Irvine is as appealing as always as a young bomber pilot -- but the plot is thin, and the scares are nearly identical to the ones in the first movie.

Once it was unveiled in the second half of the first movie, the Woman in Black's story lost much of its horror movie juice. She's still upset and still wants to kill children as punishment for the death of her long-dead son. Anyone who saw the first film will see almost all the plot twists before they unfold. The ghost's decision to focus on young Edward is obvious the moment it's explained that he's gone selectively mute from the sudden death of his parents. Halfway through the movie, the subplot between the fighter pilot and the school teacher would have made for a better romance than Woman in Black 2 makes for a horror film.