Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2015) Solo Trailer Review #3

Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death Trailer

40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, a group of children evacuated from WWII London arrive, awakening the house's darkest inhabitant.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

The trailer opens with aerial shots of London, yet we see the smoke and atmosphere of World War II, this immediately sets us the time and location and also refers to the historical context of the World War II. The music goes from emotional, due to the disaster to eerie and tension building, we’re then introduced to a series of close-ups which go well with the type of parallel music playing. A collision cut is played out unexpectedly as the scene goes quite yet a slight sound effect is played when the female looks out the window, telling us the scene is all we need to witness at the moment and suddenly a crow hits the window and the sound effect is amplified to engage the viewer before the trailer gets intense. The trailer goes quite, with sudden spikes of noise coming from the toys and such. Another jump scare is shown through collision cutting, keeping to the horror and making it fulfil its theme. We’re then introduced to diegetic music from the music player, which becomes bridge music as it plays throughout the next series of shots. 

The pace of the trailer picks up slightly, with toys inter-cutting throughout to keep the eeriness engaging the viewer. A boy starts to narrative the idea behind the woman in black amongst the song, we see what he’s explaining, and this is effective as its target audience can see what is meant. The music starts to act like a broken record, and synchronizes with the shots as we see the disasters in the film play out, a montage creating an emotional effect. A crackling sound effect plays over the woman in blacks face, not presented as a jump scare, but still effective as we see her clearer. The ending of the trailer is a trick played on the audience, as we see a hospital scene and what looks to be a harmless woman approaching the female characters point of view shot holding a baby but this peaceful part is depleted when the nurse lifts her head and screams, waking the audience up for the final time in the trailer.

Which aspect of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

This trailer pretty much fulfilled and accomplished presenting its theme, yet having the woman in blacks face plotted around the trailer for the viewers to see removes the reveal of her at the end, it makes her face less horrifying and shocking. Other than this, the narrative was explained fairly poor towards the beginning and this didn't leave a strong enough beginning to intrigue the viewers.

What do you rate the trailers score? Why did it receive that mark?

 I rate this trailer an 8.5, it provides a variety of different shot types played out in a collision cut and montage to keep us interested, and the jump scares were played out perfectly as they weren't obvious for the target audience to spot, until the last depleted reveal. This film is also a sequel to the first Woman in Black, where the story had left no open ending, this leaves the audience who watched the first to become confused yet interested in how the ending of the first film allowed this woman in black to continue her revenge. The target audience is around 15-20 year olds, and the first film being a mainstream horror for teenagers is sure to help this film deliver.