Despite the fame and fortune that playing Harry Potter brought him, Daniel Radcliffe must be as pleased as punch to finally graduate from Hogwarts.

His first film post-Potter is certainly a positive move. He would have obviously been thrown a hundred scripts, no doubt many of them keen to have him adopt an American accent and save the world in some fashion. Instead, he took the relatively brave decision to star in this classic tale, brought to the screen from back-from-the-dead studio Hammer films.

Still suffering from grief from his wife dying whilst giving birth to their son, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) is struggling to keep his career as a lawyer on track.

With his firm far from sympathetic, they send him out to one last job in an attempt for him to redeem himself.

On the surface, it's one that is far from challenging; he has been put in charge of looking after the estate of the late Alice Drablow. So off he travels to a somewhat secluded part of the country.

Things don't appear to go well right from the off when the innkeeper tells him, in no uncertain terms, that there is no room at his inn – despite his office reserving a room for him in advance. The innkeeper's wife does manage to find him a room eventually however, albeit one in the attic.

They're not the only ones to give Arthur the cold shoulder; it appears everyone in town wants rid of him. But considering the pressure his firm have placed on him, leaving is not an option.

He soon understands why the locals are so edgy; it is a town that has suffered a fair number of deaths, the number of which seemingly increases when strangers appear.

It's easy to put it all down to a community under the spell of some silly hocus pocus, as friendly local Sam Daily (Ciarán Hinds)believes, but the longer Arthur stays, the more he starts to believe that there really is something much darker afoot.

I don't understand it, my window washing spell just doesn't seem to be working!

It's no surprise that the recently resurrected Hammer would choose this as one of their first new projects. The tale is quintessentially English in feel, and this film captures that English-ness perfectly.

Radcliffe does extremely well to shake off all remnants of a certain wizard, proving that he's got what it takes to have a long and impressive career with little sign of typecasting.

And although it was certainly a coup for Hammer to sign him up to this project, his appearance could actually be considered detrimental to the film. The chances are that having Radcliffe on board had a huge bearing on the film's 12A certificate; after all, it would be box office suicide to snub the actor's global young fan base by giving the film more adult material and thus a more adult rating.

The trade-off, unfortunately, is that the film lacks any real scares. It therefore has to rely on trying to make its audience jump at the slightest thing, and in doing so, probably overdoes it with one too many things-that-go-bump-in-the-night moments. With Radcliffe walking around on creaky floorboards seeing the odd figure in a reflection again and again, it starts to feel more like a dull Edwardian property show (Haunted Homes Under the Hammer anyone?) rather than a bone fide spook-fest.

It may well look the part, but sadly The Woman in Black just hasn't got what it takes to leave a haunting impression of any kind.