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Post by dem on Apr 24, 2014 7:19:24 GMT
Martyn Waites - The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death (Hammer, 2013) Blurb: The Sequel to Susan Hill's Best-seller
Autumn 1940, World War Two. Bombs are destroying the cities of Britain.
In London, children are being removed from their families and taken to the country for safety.
Teacher Eve Parkins is in charge of one group, her destination a desolate house that appears to be sinking into the tidal marshes that surround it.
EEL MARSH HOUSE
Far from home and with no alternative, Eve and the children move in.
But it soon becomes apparent that there is someone else in the house, someone far deadlier than any number of German bombs ...
The Woman in Black"We're stuck here," said Fraser. It was hard to tell whether he was thrilled or terrified."Edward narrowly escapes death in the bombing raid which claims the life of his mother, the horror of the experience rending him mute and all but catatonic. He is among a party of seven poor kids evacuated from London to the relative safety of the countryside by their headmistress, Mrs. Jean Hogg, and our young schoolteacher heroine, Eve Parkins. When we learn their destination is Eel Marsh House, we wonder if they'd have been better advised to remain at home and take their chances with the Luftwaffe. On the train we meet RAF Captain Harry Burston who shares their compartment and gets straight down to some serious flirting with Miss Parkins who is secretly delighted to learn that he is stationed very close to Eel Marsh House. Mrs. Hogg takes a dim view of such carryings-on in front of the little ones - four boys, three girls, aged seven to eleven years - so their parting of ways at the desolate, fog-bound station is anti-climactic. It is a freezing night, and the children huddle together, lonely and scared . Eventually Mr. Jim Rhodes of the local education board comes lurching out of the darkness and shepherds them aboard his bus. They drive through the marshland in eerie darkness, until, on reaching an abandoned village, their bus suffers a puncture. While Mr. Rhodes and Mrs. Hogg set to changing the tyre, the kids have a look around at their new surroundings. They've never seen a sheep before, and this one terrifies them. Eve, meanwhile, is distracted by the cheery sound of children chanting a nursery rhythm. She wanders off to investigate. The chant grows louder until she can make out the words. They are not the least reassuring. The same goes for the blind man who suddenly pokes his ancient face into hers, screaming at her that he knows what she is and she should go away and leave him be. And just for a moment Eve thought she saw another ghastly face leering through the gloom ... The bus is finally roadworthy. After such a testing day, what a relief to reach Eel Marsh House. To be continued; a very promising first fifty pages .....
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Post by dem on Apr 26, 2014 7:46:20 GMT
With their fellow evacuees not due for another week, Mrs. Hogg, Eve and the pupils have the cheerless, damp old mausoleum to themselves. It is not difficult to believe that Eel Marsh House has stood vacant since the turn of the century. Beyond studying the black mould clinging to every wall, there really doesn't seem that much by way of entertainment. "Derelict is what it is, Dr. Rhodes," seethes the headmistress. "My husband is a brigadier in the army, and he wouldn't let his men stay in a place like this, let alone a group of children." But with no alternative accommodation, she supervises the exhausted kids in readying a dorm for the night.
Eve and Mrs. Hogg have entire floors to themselves. Mentally and physically wearied by so challenging a day, still the young teacher can't sleep. The room is oppressive. Inexplicably it metamorphoses into a maternity ward. A screaming woman is pleading a nurse to come back with her baby, at least let her see her child. The nurse is unmoved. Eve catches sight of the distraught mother's face. And recognises it ....
Aroused from what must surely have been a bad dream - although it seemed real enough to her - Eve hears a steady creak from below. Perhaps one of the children have gone walkabout? Taking a candle, she finds her way to the nursery where a rocking chair rocks to and fro, seemingly of on its own volition. Traced in the perennial black mould, a stark message;
MY GRIEF WILL LIVE IN THESE WALLS FOREVER
The following morning, and we get to know a little about the kids, in particular Tom, the eldest at eleven, and the official school bully. By way of demonstrating his cruel streak, we watch him batter a baby crow with a poker. Angered that he's been unable to force Edward to break his silence, Tom locks him in the nursery. When Eve eventually rescues him, Edward is contentedly playing with a ragged Mr. Punch doll. The two become inseparable ....
A hundred pages in now. As novelizations go, i'm guessing this one is unerringly faithful to the screenplay as the creepy/ horrific incidents are coming so thick and fast you could be forgiven for thinking you were back in Hill House if not Borley Rectory. Subtle it may not be, but this Angel Of Death is certainly lively.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Apr 26, 2014 18:14:26 GMT
As novelizations go, i'm guessing this one is unerringly faithful to the screenplay as the creepy/ horrific incidents are coming so thick and fast you could be forgiven for thinking you were back in Hill House if not Borley Rectory. Subtle it may not be, but this Angel Of Death is certainly lively. That was my problem with the book - it seemed to stick rigidly to the screenplay, with very short chapters that felt more like short film scenes. And while I think it could well be an effective film, I didn't think the prose here conjured up any sort of atmosphere or creeping sense of dread. Certainly the MRJ references in the character names - Parkins, Bur(n)stow, Dr Jim Rhodes - didn't lead to any Jamesian chills in the story. But, as I say, I think the film could be a lot of fun. And it's nice to see that Adrian Rawlins, who played Arthur in the 1989 TV version of TWiB is in this as Rhodes. |
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Post by dem on May 1, 2014 6:18:13 GMT
As novelizations go, i'm guessing this one is unerringly faithful to the screenplay as the creepy/ horrific incidents are coming so thick and fast you could be forgiven for thinking you were back in Hill House if not Borley Rectory. Subtle it may not be, but this Angel Of Death is certainly lively. That was my problem with the book - it seemed to stick rigidly to the screenplay, with very short chapters that felt more like short film scenes. And while I think it could well be an effective film, I didn't think the prose here conjured up any sort of atmosphere or creeping sense of dread. Certainly the MRJ references in the character names - Parkins, Bur(n)stow, Dr Jim Rhodes - didn't lead to any Jamesian chills in the story. But, as I say, I think the film could be a lot of fun. And it's nice to see that Adrian Rawlins, who played Arthur in the 1989 TV version of TWiB is in this as Rhodes. Can't disagree with any of that, Lurkio. Finished it last night and liked everything until the party moved down into the cellar during the bombing raid - from then on, there were more action sequences than the average Die-hard movie and yet my attention wandered ..... It says at back that the (post-2013) Hammer Books were "written to read in a single sitting," hence the breakneck speed and no shortage of explosions. Enjoyed some of the ghostly sequences better than others - Harry's mouldering companion during his mercy dash across the causeway is a treat and Our Lady of eels is brilliant at enticing the children to some very decent suicides - but .... For this reader at least, The Woman In Black is an excellent stand-alone trad. ghost novella, and would have preferred it were left at that rather than used as the basis for yet another bloody franchise. Wonder how Susan Hill feels about Jennet Humfrye as the distaff Freddie Kruger? |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on May 2, 2014 23:29:43 GMT
For this reader at least, The Woman In Black is an excellent stand-alone trad. ghost novella, and would have preferred it were left at that rather than used as the basis for yet another bloody franchise. Wonder how Susan Hill feels about Jennet Humfrye as the distaff Freddie Kruger? Well, Susan Hill provided the initial idea for the follow up, though I've no idea if that was a few lines or an outline or what, so she's obviously not too fussed. Interesting to note, with the burnt out office in town making an appearance, that this book is a sequel to the film's events rather than the events of the original book. When the sequel was announced, the talk was about Eel Marsh house and Crythin Gifford rather than Jennet, and I'd have been more interested in a story that used the locations and backdrop from the original without it being the Woman herself. After all, Jennet's story is told in the original, there are no more secrets to her, but a town bowed down under fear and superstition could easily have bred other phantoms. |
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Post by dem on May 3, 2014 9:44:42 GMT
When the sequel was announced, the talk was about Eel Marsh house and Crythin Gifford rather than Jennet, and I'd have been more interested in a story that used the locations and backdrop from the original without it being the Woman herself. After all, Jennet's story is told in the original, there are no more secrets to her, but a town bowed down under fear and superstition could easily have bred other phantoms. That would certainly be a more interesting approach. I've zero knowledge of the film world, but in the current climate would Hammer or any name studio gamble on a storyline that cast the house as the star? Most of the stuff I like is slam bang and to the point, and I'm not about to criticise a book that delivers in abundance on that level, especially as Martyn Waites has done a very decent job with the material at hand. But reading it - and honest, I'm not being sarky here - I kept thinking another attempt at a no nonsense, crowd-pleasing sequel, Aliens. Action action and more action. |
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Post by dem on Jul 7, 2020 11:03:20 GMT
Paid a first post-lockdown visit to Spitalfields Crypt Charity Shop (Aldgate chapter) this morning, came away with this film tie-in, certain I'd never heard of it before, far less read the thing .... Martyn Waite - The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (Vintage, Dec. 2014) Blurb: The chilling sequel to the international bestselling novel The Woman in Black
It's Autumn of 1940, and German bombs are destroying the cities of Britain as WWII takes its toll on Europe. In London, children are being removed from their families and taken to the country for safety. Teacher Eve Parkins is in charge of one such group, and her destination is an empty and desolate house that appears to be sinking into the tidal marshes that surround it.
Its name is Eel Marsh House.
Far from home and with no alternative, Eve and the children move in. But it soon becomes apparent that there is someone else in the house; someone who is far deadlier than anything that would face the children in the city. She's called "The Woman in Black," and she won't rest until she has her revenge ... |
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