The Woman in the Yard (2025)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Sara
I’ve really tried to make an effort to review newer movies more this time around. Seeing that I’ve covered all the really solid slashers from the 80s, I have to start looking newer. The Woman in the Yard had me intrigued, I figured it could be great or shit.
The plot is about a woman and her two kids, living in an old farm in the middle of nowhere, after the dad dies. The mom has a jacked up leg and the power goes out. Soon a woman, all dressed in black is sitting in front of the house. The mom questions her and she says how the mom asked her to come. The kids freak out. The lady gets closer and closer as the day goes on. Soon shit hits the fan and the lady is right up close and personal. The woman tries to get the kids, and is taken over by the mom. SPOILERS AHEAD! The kids are sent away and we find out the woman in black is the mom’s depression/suicidal thoughts trying to take over. She tries to get the mom to shoot herself, she resists and the movie ends.
This movie was quite slow. It picked up towards the end and I was hooked, I had to see what was going to happen. Then we hit the twist of the woman being depression and I totally saw it coming. It was a heavy handed thing and kind of cliche and lame. The acting though, was really good. The mom was played by Danielle Deadwyler, she really put in a good performance. Showing the pain and joy that parenthood can bring and the vulnerability of feeling hopeless and lost. The kids were decent, the boy was better than the young girl, but thats to be expected. The woman in black was creepy, until she took the veil off and just looked like a normal black woman haha.
If you are looking for something decent, which is PG13, then maybe check this out but the slow build fell short and I wanted more. I didn’t care for the heavy handed symbolism and was underwhelmed at the end. I give this a C-.
