The Woman in the Yard

The Woman in the Yard
Starring Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

"The Woman in the Yard" was one of the movies I was really excited to see, but when the reviews started coming out in a very negative way, my excitement began to diminish, showing that while I say I don't pay attention to critics, deep down I kinda do. Maybe it was that tempered excitement that saved the film for me, because after watching it I actually found myself intrigued by it, with a lot of questions at the end that weren't easily answered but ones I didn't need answered - a film that I yearn to discuss after its ending, and one that's stuck with me despite its flaws.

Dealing with the tragic passing of her husband David (Russell Hornsby), Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) lives in an isolated Georgia farmhouse with her teenage son Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and young daughter Annie (Estella Kahiha). She's been depressed since the event that also caused her physical injuries, but it's what's going on in her mind that really affects her. She stays in bed all day, so much so that the power has been turned off, and she thinks she's maintaining for her children, but they can see through it.

One day a mysterious woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) arrives in their yard, clad all in black, sitting in a chair. When Ramona goes to investigate, the woman says she was called, and - with hands covered in blood - declares "today's the day." Left without power and no means of escape, Ramona and her children take shelter in their home as the woman slowly advances on the house, but the true terror could come from within.

Horror movies are unique in that they are often lumped in different trends depending on the decade. The 80s was the slasher decade. The 90s centered on serial killers and more grounded reality. The 00s was J-Horror, paranormal and found footage. The 2010s is known for elevated horror that was more critically acclaimed than other decades. Now, it seems the 2020s (and, in some sense, the end of the 2010s) is about mental illness as a physical manifestation. "The Babadook," "Hereditary" and "Midsommar" started the trend in the 2010s, but the 2020s brought films like "Smile," "Talk to Me," "The Invisible Man," "The Night House" and "Saint Maud" are just some of the movies that tackle this difficult subject. "The Woman in the Yard" is one such film, taking grief and depression and personifying it as a black-clad woman with ominous overtones, but it was equal parts ambiguous and by-the-numbers in such a way that many people didn't care for it, especially the shocking ending.

Danielle Deadwyler is a fantastic actress, and the fact that she never received an Academy Award nomination for her spectacular work in "Till" is still a tragic oversight by the committee, and once again she proves her acting prowess here. In this film she plays Ramona, a woman tortured by her husband's sudden death and the secrets she kept from her children in the hopes of protecting them - or really protecting herself. She is a shell of a woman, who shuffles around her massive farmhouse on crutches from the accident that serves as a physical manifestation of the crutches she uses in her mind, trying in vain to keep everything together. She thinks she's being strong for her children, but she seems to be doing more harm than good.

Then the woman arrives, and here's where the by-the-numbers aspect of the movie comes into play. It's obvious the woman is the manifestation of Ramona's grief and depression, and the film doesn't shy away from it or try to play it off. It then follows in turn as the woman starts off way in the yard, but as Ramona loses her patience and sanity more and more, the woman moves closer and closer to the house. The children notice this and have to find a way out, because Ramona has emotionally shut off from the situation to hide from the pain, and in true horror movie fashion there's no way to connect with the outside world (as the power has been cut off, the car doesn't work, and Ramona's cell phone is dead and cannot be charged). As the woman, Okwui Okpokwasili is terrifying, menacing, and eerily calm throughout, making her character truly a force of nature that seems unstoppable.

Usually in films like this, the children are the worst (look no further than that demonic child in "The Babadook" to see this), but both Peyton Jackson and Estella Kahiha are amazing young performers who play their characters not as whiny, screaming children but rather older than their age. Jackson's Taylor has to become the man of the house, and wants to find a plan to make it out alive, and has some actually decent ideas. Kahiha's Annie can't write "R" correctly and carries an emotional support penguin stuffed animal, but she doesn't come off as whiny at all. She's actually the character I worried and cared about the most, because she's the most innocent, and surprisingly not annoying.

The movie is tension-filled, as the woman slowly creeps closer, and Ramona's shell begins to crack. It's a slow-burn movie that amps up in the last twenty minutes as it goes full force into its finale, which could come off as jarring to many people. This is the ambiguous part of the film, where the ending is left up for interpretation, with one interpretation being downright depressing and giving off the wrong message, but the other interpretation being more uplifting but not making sense in the grand scheme of the film. It's this part that I actually appreciate the most about the movie - the part that many others hate - because it doesn't spoon-feed you its conclusions but forces you to come up with your own after watching what you've just seen. I love that type of movie, and if it was done better I think this could've been included in the modern day classics, but as such it'll probably fade into obscurity.

The Score: B+