‘The Woman in the Yard’ Review – An Inert Retread of Familiar Grief Horror

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows, Orphan, House of Wax) has a proven track record of delivering palpable suspense, whether through horror, frenetic action thrillers, or big-budget blockbusters. That makes The Woman in the Yard an outlier among the filmmaker’s work; the high concept psychological horror movie is so inert that it lacks anything resembling tension or […] The post ‘The Woman in the Yard’ Review – An Inert Retread of Familiar Grief Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Mar 28, 2025 - 02:42

‘The Woman in the Yard’ Review – An Inert Retread of Familiar Grief Horror

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows, Orphan, House of Wax) has a proven track record of delivering palpable suspense, whether through horror, frenetic action thrillers, or big-budget blockbusters. That makes The Woman in the Yard an outlier among the filmmaker’s work; the high concept psychological horror movie is so inert that it lacks anything resembling tension or scares. That’s especially bad news when its sparse plot is content to faithfully adhere to the well established and overly tired grief horror blueprint.

The Woman in the Yard gives The Babadook a bland and underdeveloped update with Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler), a grieving widow and mom to teen Tay (Peyton Jackson) and adorable grade schooler Annie (Estella Kahihi). Ramona is still recovering, both physically and mentally, from the tragic accident that left her injured and her husband David (Russell Hornsby) dead. So much so that she’s mentally checked out, leaving the parenting to Tay as she watches videos of her husband in bed. That is until the power goes out, and a mysterious Woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) covered in black shrouds appears in their yard, warning that “Today’s the day.”

Okwui Okpokwasili as the Woman in The Woman in the Yard, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

Ramona gets introduced already at her breaking point, lashing out at her kids with a hair trigger temper or forcing more responsibility on her eldest. Her depression has consumed her so fully that it becomes an impenetrable wall both for her kids and the audience. It leaves Kahihi’s Annie with little to do but tiptoe on eggshells to avoid incurring mom’s wrath. Jackson fares stronger as the teen caught between roles: the child he actually is versus the grown-up that mom has unwittingly forced him to play. The high level of emotional trauma suffocating this broken family from the start leaves no room for the actors to go when the shrouded stranger begins her torment. There’s no variation to the constant grief and guilt. With the noticeable lack of scares, Collet-Serra’s latest instead becomes a flatline of emotional tedium.

That’s largely due to writer Sam Stefanak’s barebones script, which leaves flaws all the more exposed. Worse, it doesn’t trust its audience to the point of contrivance. Like constantly cutting to the demolished vehicle from the accident barely hidden under a tarp, an unsubtle, clunky visual reminder taunting the family from their driveway. One early scene sees Mom channeling Jack Torrance as she berates Annie for her repeated mistake of writing the letter R backward. It’s a tactic less about painting Ramona as an unreliable narrator, that follows soon enough, but about conditioning audiences to register the significance of backward lettering later. Perhaps it’s necessary; the film’s chaotic third act can’t figure out how to coherently relay its obvious metaphor and muddies an intentionally ambiguous and dark ending that it doesn’t earn.

(from left) Taylor (Peyton Jackson), Annie (Estella Kahiha) and Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) in The Woman in the Yard, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

Okpokwasili is a striking presence as the Woman, though underutilized to the point of diminishing her impact. The Woman in the Yard, humorously, opts to sideline her for much of the film. The Woman is content to sit still, unmoving, an observer and occasional puppeteer. Even when the film introduces new aspects of her shadowy reach, it’s quickly abandoned to prevent losing any focus on Ramona’s unraveling state.

The film’s trailer and title practically sum up the entire movie; a mysterious figure arrives and sits there as a fractured family spirals with an ineffective, unscary nudge here or there. There’s no attempt at atmosphere or tension, with Collet-Serra opting to dwell on the psychological and broach delicate subject matter with cautious hesitation. It makes the sparse and heavy-handed retread of The Babadook all the more noticeable and frustrating. The Woman in Yard doesn’t deviate from its well-trodden path but doesn’t offer enough for audiences to grab ahold of, either. It’s unsure of itself in a way that dooms it from the start, making for an inert feature that somehow stretches its 85-minute runtime to an eternity.

The Woman in the Yard releases in theaters on March 28, 2025.

1.5 out of 5 skulls

The post ‘The Woman in the Yard’ Review – An Inert Retread of Familiar Grief Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.