Ticketworthy! - The Woman in the Yard

There’s something to be said for slow-burn, philosophical films that really get into the minds of their characters. 2001: A Space Odyssey is rightly considered an absolute classic because of the way it takes its time and really builds the story. Horror, as a genre, can also excel with those types of films. Suspiria comes to mind. I think that’s what director Jaume Collet-Serra was going for with his new psychological-horror movie, The Woman in the Yard.  He certainly lets the plot marinate and lets the characters guide the audience to where the movie is going. The problem is that where it's going is nowhere.

The plot focuses on Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) and her two children, Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha) still reeling with the loss of Ramona’s husband. The dynamic between the family is tense, as Ramona is injured and has slipped into a deep depression and left the older child, Taylor, to take care of much of the house and his younger sister. Complicating matters is the sudden appearance of a woman in all black funeral garb that sits in their yard menacingly, confusing and scaring the family.

Therein lies my biggest issue with the film. Our titular villain spends almost the entire runtime of the film literally sitting in the yard. She kills a couple of chickens, uses her shadows to move some things around in the house, and is plenty creepy, but does little else. At first, it seems like she's building up to something, like we're in store for a big, frightening third act showcase of her power, but no. The longer she simply sits there, the less threatening she becomes. By the time she finally does get up and starts showing off what she’s there to do, it turns out to be nothing more than some standard poltergeist door slamming and a few meaningless jump scares. At no point does it feel like any member of the family is in real danger.

The movie seems to be much more interested in exploring the relationships between Ramona and her kids, using the being in their yard as nothing more than an excuse to keep them trapped in the house together. Unfortunately, almost all of their interactions involve Ramona sitting and doing nothing while Taylor tries to take care of things himself, then yelling at him for doing anything at all. Every time Taylor tries to mercifully move the plot forward, Ramona fusses until they all sit back down and do nothing for a little while longer. It’s frustrating and weird.

Giving credit where it’s due, all of the actors do a fine job. I really enjoyed Peyton Jackson as Taylor. His performance feels very real, and I related to his confusion, boredom, and anger at having to sit passively while an obvious threat was right in front of him. His frustration was palpable.

From a technical standpoint, the shot composition is strong. The camera work is solid and does a fantastic job building tension. I could say the same for the score. The music was well chosen. Behind the scenes, from the director on down to the crew, it’s clear that there was some real talent behind this movie and that they were doing their best.

It all just serves no purpose. The ultimate themes of the movie are grief and depression, and I understand the idea of using horror as a way to explore those concepts. Movies like The Babadook tread that ground well. That movie, however, had the good sense to use its monster to serve those themes. The Woman in the Yard just...has a monster. The exact same film could have happened completely without a supernatural being haunting this family. The whole experience could have been about 40 minutes shorter and missing the main villain, and I’d argue it probably would have been improved. As is, it’s about as much fun as watching an actual person just sitting in your yard, because that’s pretty much all this movie is doing.