The Woman in the Yard

It’s a shame the movie has such a goofy name, which throws a shroud over a powerful and unique cinematic experience.

Like a particularly concise, purposefully elliptical short story, The Woman in the Yard quickly milks this beguiling, WTF-is-going-on-here? scenario for all the dread it’s worth, while not necessarily being in a hurry to fill folks in on the full 411 regarding this sticky situation.

Leave it to Collet-Serra to deliver a trim, serviceable product—something almost impressive when compared to some of Blumhouse’s other recent original efforts.

A raw central performance from Danielle Deadwyler brings some depth to this Blumhouse thriller, which otherwise maintains a creepy atmosphere but mostly trades in familiar psychological horror tropes and an abundance of jump scares.

Even at a brisk 85 minutes, it’s a bigger slog than a day spent mowing the grass.

There’s not enough here to sustain even a slim sub-90 minute runtime, and Collet-Serra seems lost when tasked with a project that provides little opportunity for dynamic action sequences or wild plot twists.

The Woman in the Yard never musters the imagination to horrify or even jolt you. It’s a tale of one-note inner demons.

The Woman in the Yard is one of those films that stretches the what-if scenario to try to deliver a punch on a premises. It works in some parts and doesn't in others. The story follows Ramona and their children Taylor and Annie. They live in a sort of beat-down farm that David, the father, bought to renovate but ended up dying in a car accident; one that left Ramona injured with a broken leg or back, which hinders her mobility. Enduring depression gets harder for Ramona when, out of the sudden, there is a woman in a cover-all black dress sitting in their yard. The interesting part of this premise is really the whole, like, what would you do in this case? Would you just be cool and try to talk your way through? Would you play tough and threaten for results? Would you play mean and go guns-blazing? It is a thought-provoking situation that I think storywriters sometimes nail out of such mundane scenarios. What if a seemingly normal but eerie person is just sitting in your yard and refuses to leave? Of course, there are some stretches that we need to evaluate here. Couldn't they just call the cops? Well, it so happens that their communications are cut due to the inability of Ramona to pay bills and, unfortunately, they are out of power too. More than that, we need to remember that Ramona is going through severe depression and that is really the theme here: the effects of unhealed, untreated depression. It is a strong theme that I think plays out nicely in this film. But there are some things that bother me a bit in this film. For starters, Ramona is too idle in this whole thing and Taylor is actually the one that acts on the situation. Stories that focus on the effects of depression are common and this one is not really innovating, it could have been an interesting take to have the story focus on the effects this has on the children through Taylor's perspective. As the story unfolds, things get complicated due to a lack of focus on the struggles of the protagonist. The Woman in the Yard is a short film and we feel the affects of this in the end when some questions just linger in the air. The enclosured, folk-driven horror is effective and I like this type of film. Sometimes, horror and terror are in the small things, when you are helpless due to being alone in the situation rather than large-scale pandemonium. Overall, The Woman in the Yard is effective for what it is and entertaining on its own. A nice view on the theme with a somewhat convoluted unfolding of events — could be intentional. In the end, the story might stay with you a bit in your head as you try to make sense of it all. Some mistakes here and there, but it delivers on what it tried to do. Just... Don't watch it on the Movies — it was on display here and luckly I skipped it; not worth your bucks unless you are watching on Stream.

A direção é a mesma de "A orfã" e "Casa de cera", então vai se preparando para algo que emula Jordan Peele (superestimado), mas sem as técnicas potentes de suspense, então o filme cai mais na curiosidade para juntar as peças do seu simbilismo mesmo. A mulher com seus filhos negros tendo que conviver co segredos do apssado, a outra mulher misteriosa que os circunda, o sonho, os lírios, todo o complexo jogo de um ambiente privado mas claustrofóbico, servindo como gatinho de nossos maiores medos internos, ou problemas mal resolvidos. Visto dessa perscpectiva psicológica, o filme funciona.

There was so much potential here. It wasn’t an awful movie at all; but the thing is they led you to believe it was something totally different than it really was. Seems like they got kind of confused. There were a couple of creepy moments for sure but I wish they had taken adifferent approach. Not bad to watch one time but I wouldn’t watch it again.

There was so much potential here... At one point, it felt like it could have been a new Candyman. Potential for a franchise... Then it got so confusing and illogical. What a waste.

Oh no! There's a woman in the yard!! Are we for seriously real with this???