The Woman in the Yard

After I watch a movie, I head over to IMDB and check the movie's Wikipedia page to get a little background information or see if there's a small detail I missed. Usually, when I watch a modern horror movie, the Trivia section is filled to the brim with interesting information. But something I've noticed this year is that it only takes about a minute to go through the entire thing. Today's movie only has three entries, and two of them are the same! Of course I'm talking about...

The Woman in the Yard (2025)

Before I get into the review, I'd like to warn people that the movie is about grief, and with that, suicide is a key theme. With that said, I want everyone to know that there's help out there. You don't need to fight whatever battle you're in alone. If you don't feel there's anyone you know personally you can reach out to, there's always the 988 Hotline. You can get help, get a sympathetic ear and get connected to any resources you need. Suicide is a permanent end to a temporary problem. You're worth it.

OK, back to the movie. We meet a grieving mother who is not taking the loss of her husband very well. You don't know how he died at first, but she's hobbled in crutches throughout the movie, so you can guess pretty easily that it was a car crash. She's doing her best to put on a brave face for her two kids, but it's eating away at her. She's too tired and too grief-stricken to handle her son's teenage rebelliousness, lashing out at him a lot sooner than she normally would. The way they feed each other's worst habits, and the deteriorating homelife, is only pushing Ramona and Tay further apart, with the adorable Annie caught in the middle.

Eventually, the family notices a woman in a long back dress with a big black veil covering her face sitting in a chair on their property. Instead of going the Joe Ausome route and demanding she get off her property, Ramona goes out to talk to her. The conversation is tense because, for starters, the woman has a weird echo to her voice, like two different voices saying the same things, but one of them is starting a quarter second later. The conversation is very cryptic, which only the two of them understand, but you're able to piece together what it means as the movie goes on.

Who is that woman in the yard?

From there, the woman gets closer and closer to the house whenever they take their eyes off her. And inside the home, the tension is getting ready to boil over. Tay is at the point of open rebellion, while Ramona is trying to keep them calm and obedient to her. On occasion, we get glimpses of the woman's power and how she's able to affect things from the comfort of her chair by using shadows. As far as baddies go, I really liked what she was able to do. The original Nosferatu isn't the greatest movie, but the way it uses shadows is excellent. The baddie in this controls the shadow, and with her tall, gaunt figure and the dress she wears, she casts a very creepy one indeed.

I liked the choice of having Ramona be hobbled the entire movie. It makes the story more tense because she can't get around, so in the case of any chase, she's not getting away. It ups the tension because our main character is already in danger the moment the movie begins. I also liked the mystery of the woman, the way she passively sits there watching, her face obscured, makes for creepy visuals. Because she spends most of the movie immobile, it's a big deal when she gets up because you know something bad is about to go down.

It drags a little, but the final act is really good. The moment the woman decides "it's go time," it starts getting scary. The woman doesn't physically touch people, but uses shadow to do it. She interacts with things with a shadow that looks like her hand. Tendrils creep through the house, and anything they touch breaks, falls or spins rapidly. The family is literally running away from the shadows, so they decide to go to a place in the house without them, the attic. Unfortunately, the woman is perfectly fine in the dark and kicks off the scariest and most tense scene in the movie. The way her own shadow dances behind her by the light of a flashlight as she creepily walks toward Annie is easily the scariest thing in the movie.

As for the ending, and the reason the woman is there... well, I didn't like that. I don't want to get into it because it's supposed to be a big reveal, and just because I didn't like it doesn't mean someone else would. I will say, the movie tries to have an ambiguous ending, but there's nothing ambiguous about it. I knew something was up when all of a sudden the movie took a bit of a turn. And then, when the thought-dead dog Charlie shows that, alarm bells go off because everything is too happy. Having said that, I just read an alternate theory that I liked a lot more, so I'm going to make it my head canon. Still, I really don't like the message this movie was sending, and now that I think about it, it's a reverse It's a Wonderful Life, and I don't know, it just kind of feels dirty the more I think about it.

Sorry, but I have to play spoiler just a little bit here. The alternative theory that I personally like, but don't think that's the film's intention, is that the happy ending we see was a way to show that there is a happy ending if you choose life instead of suicide, you just need the courage to live. The last image the movie leaves us with strongly hints that Ramona may have chosen otherwise.

7 Dr Chainsaws!