Finally made it to theaters to see The Woman in the Yard, though I ended up leaving the theater with more questions than answers.
For as long as I’ve been going to see movies (and that is a long time), I’ve never quite known how to feel about movies that leave me feeling confused. It’s easy to talk about a film when it’s excellent, even easier when the film is horrible and you can rip it apart at will. But then there’s the middle ground, where you don’t like a movie, nor do you hate it. Instead, there’s just…confusion.
The Woman in the Yard
Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Such is the dilemma I have with The Woman in the Yard.
On the surface, the story seemed straightforward enough. The story ostensibly follows a mother and her two kids as they find themselves terrorized by a mysterious woman sitting in the yard who will only tell the mother “Today is the day.” It was clear from the trailers that the mother knew more than she was letting on, but the question was, what?
I feel like the people in charge of promoting The Woman in the Yard made some big mistakes. The way the trailers are put together, one goes in expecting a horror story filled with scares and tension around what this mysterious entity wants. And while there is tension around that question, that’s not what the bulk of the story revolves around. Due to spoilers, I can’t say what that something is, except to say it isn’t even remotely hinted at in any of the advertising for this film. One might almost accuse the film of a bait and switch except I believe the director was coming from a place of good intentions, except the execution didn’t quite hit the mark.
Make no mistake, there is a good idea at the core of The Woman in the Yard. The director is trying to use horror as a means to shed light on some extremely dark and sensitive topics. This would all be well and good except by the time these revelations come to light, the film is almost over and the ground hasn’t really been prepared, in a manner of speaking, for the audience to even come close to accepting this as a proper explanation of what’s been going on. It all felt very anti-climactic.
That being said, the standout in this film by a mile is Okwui Okpokwasili as the titular woman. From the moment she first appears, there’s an air of something “other” about her character. Part of this is due to the veil that obscures her face for most of the film, the other part is how she holds herself. It’s the type of performance where you can tell the character is something very not human pretending to be human.
The performance I struggled with the most, in contrast, is that of Danielle Deadwyler as Ramona. I’m reasonably certain we’re supposed to sympathize with Ramona, at least that’s what the trailers led me to believe. But in the film itself, honestly I couldn’t sympathize with Ramona at all. If anything, I was waiting for the Woman to “get” her before I realized it ultimately wasn’t that kind of film.
In the end, I have to say The Woman in the Yard had a number of elements that, if used properly, could have made it a good film. However, as I hinted before, a number of story elements aren’t executed properly, leading to a story that is clearly trying to be told, but doesn’t communicate what needs to all that well. Watch at your own risk, your mileage will definitely vary with this one.
