Directed By Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring – Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Russell Hornsby

The Plot – A mysterious woman (Okpokwasili) repeatedly appears in a family’s front yard, often delivering chilling warnings and unsettling messages, leaving them to question her identity, motives and the potential danger she might pose.

Rated PG-13 for terror, some violent content/bloody images, suicide-related content, and brief strong adult language.

The Woman In The Yard | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

Once in a while, a film comes along that is seemingly universally panned, which I actually thoroughly enjoyed, and while “The Woman in the Yard” is far from a perfect film, it’s still a thematically and artistically bold step forward for Jaume Collet-Serra, who has made a career off of single stage claustrophobic settings. The first thing that you have to know about this film is it’s definitely not a people-pleaser, as the thoroughly enveloping discussions towards grief and enveloping depression really sink into the engagement, painting something that is not only devastatingly dark and uncomfortable for the audience, but also something that maturely deserves the kind of urgency and awareness that Collet-Serra gives it, painting an otherworldly capture to the atmosphere in ways that even has the audience questioning the realities of these characters. This is because the presentation is just as cerebrally innovative as its thematic ambition, with overhead cinematography and intrusive editing techniques that vividly convey an unnatural essence to this family dynamic that continuously hangs over them like a thickly inescapable fog persisting perilously among them. While the articulation might make it difficult for certain audiences to faithfully invest and remain captivated by the actions in the film, I found it artistically endearing to the whirlwind of emotions that have turbulently obstructed their everyday realities, with artistic flare in lighting and shadow-play that take the movie’s titular antagonist to a supernatural level. On that aspect, it’s very easy to symbolize what this mysterious woman in black represents, even early on in the engagement, but I found her arsenal of movement among the shadows to be uniquely fascinating for her capabilities, and though it ultimately doesn’t lead to any kind of consistent scares for the opportunity, you simply cannot take your eyes off of her, whenever she moves back into frame, with an overpowering psychology towards these helplessly isolated characters that always makes her feel like she is in control of any situation. The performances are just as commanding from Danielle Deadwyler and Okwui Okpokwasili, in this terrifying tug of war between them that offers plenty of opportunities to shine in such bleak surroundings. Deadwyler has been an emotional force of nature since her breakthrough turn in 2022’s “Till”, and here dominates just as effectively, with gut-wrenching tenderness and fragility that effortlessly attains the kind of empathy needed to invest in her character, with one of the more honestly authentic portrayals to grief that I have seen in sometime, with Danielle’s boldly haunting eyes serving as a window to the soul of her attempting to keep everything together for her children. Okpokwasili’s portrayal isn’t necessarily as menacing as at least initially expected, but her bodily patience and unwavering persistence to the interaction of these characters make her an unavoidable force to be reckoned with, particularly in her confidently subdued deliveries being the audible representation of the cat who swallowed the canary, with her character’s unlimited knowledge towards uncovering the most uncomfortable moments in these character’s lives. She probably won’t be the next horror icon alongside Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, but she certainly feels like an antagonist unlike any other, in terms of what she psychologically represents, and because of that might just be the single most unstoppable one when you really think about what goes into overcoming her. Lastly, at 80 meager minutes, the film never has an opportunity to overstay its welcome, thanks in part to a narrative enveloped in mystery between this imposing woman’s intentions and insight into the tragedy that surrounds this family. Considering the script takes ample time to flesh out the mood and personalities of these character dynamics, I found just as much compelling value whenever the woman is off-screen, as I did when she’s on it, and it not only helped the movie to remain entertaining for a gimmick whose outline was so muddled in mundanity, but also helped maximize the magnitude of the horror, with the value in stakes that couldn’t be bigger for this isolated family from society.

NEGATIVES

Most tragic about this engagement is that it definitely had the ability to be a lot better than it actually is, however the script continuously undercuts the air of its potential with lazy and even confrontational writing that mauled some of the momentum that the movie built for itself. Instances like conveniences or unaddressed disagreements made it all the sillier that this family couldn’t possibly evade their captor, but one such twist delivered at the midway point of the film sacrificed the integrity of the primary protagonist, and it makes me wish that not as many of the details were attached to the clarity of the insight, with regards to the family tragedy in question, especially since it took away some of the empathy that I attained in relating to much of the character’s depression. Without spoiling anything, I can say that I did expect this mother to be at least slightly responsible for the devastating night in question, as Deadwyler’s constant body language felt like it tapped into her being held paralyzed by the victimizing of events that she frequently attempted to evade, but I wish that the big reveal just pertained to the incident in question, instead of its motivation, leaving some semblance of empathy to the character that didn’t in turn undercut the impact of its confusing but effective ending. On that aspect, there is nothing that is being criticized more from people than the movie’s closing moments, and while I coherently understood and even applauded the intention, one aspect with the consistency of the rules established in the sequence glossed over some meaningful details that directly contradicted the intention. Once again, I will tread carefully with spoilers, but I will say that I admired Collet-Serra’s intention to conjure a pessimistic side to the resolution of his characters, but the big reveal of the final frame directly contradicts itself with the imagery of a frame only a minute prior, and the bittersweet reveal is executed confusingly in ways that will leave audiences debating what they’re seeing, which is already difficult enough with closing motions that don’t exactly cater to good feelings with the audience, or even rewatchability when leaving the theater. Another hinderance to the script comes from a complete lack of scares that directly undercut the appeal of the aforementioned antagonist a bit, requiring more from the performance of Okpokwasili to leave it impactful. While I initially commended the movie for its use of shadow play and picturesque framing that allowed the character to bleed naturally into her environment, one fault that I had with Collet-Serra’s direction is that he doesn’t know how to dress up or draw out these sequences in ways that elevate discomfort to suspense, forcing the third act of the movie to deviate to timely telegraphed jump scares that utilize seizure-inducing lighting to sell their influence. It makes it difficult to buy this as a horror film, based purely on meaningful set pieces that could’ve further driven the devious creativity of the antagonist, and with some shaping of the structure to a quick rewrite that could’ve made it a psychological drama all together. Finally, my lone complaint among the technical aspects of the movie came with some of the A.D.R during the second act, which elevated volume levels of characters to unnatural distinctions pertaining to distracting interpretation. This is especially prominent with the daughter of this family trio, so I’m guessing a lot of her takes required post-production editing, but even in such I feel there were better ways to properly smooth this over, but it feels like not a lot of time was taken after the film to fix its evidential errors, leading to attention-stealing instances that an already problematic script doesn’t need.

OVERALL
“The Woman in the Yard” is a moodily dark and unapologetically devastating creative deviation for Jaume Collet-Serra, about the unshakeable void created from life-altering grief and ensuing depression that turns the lives of one family of three upside down in the comforts of their homely surroundings. While the script is far from perfect, particularly in the lack of compelling frights and the abundance of confrontational actions, it’s saved by grippingly authentic portrayals and anything but convenient resolutions, conveying not only insight into such a paralyzingly frail condition, but also the limitless efforts we enact to save those we love the most.

My Grade: 6.3 or C-