Movie Review – The Woman in the Yard

The premise of this movie is that a grieving mother and two kids see a woman dressed in black sitting in their front yard. She refuses to leave and the mother locks the doors to wait her out. They can’t call for help because the power is out and cell phones are dead.

What this film really wants to be is a metaphor for grief and survivor’s guilt. The mother was responsible for the death of her husband in a car accident so she is both physically and mentally broken. The woman in black is her grief and this woman in black can literally and figuratively use her shadows to affect the physical world. Normally, I’d be down for this type of metaphor, but this film isn’t subtle about it. There are also flashbacks during which the mother becomes the woman in black and says weird things that she didn’t understand earlier in the film when she heard the woman say them. Like I said, no subtly.

The children are also suffering but the daughter always just seems to be there and not doing much. The son vacillates between being a caregiver for his little sister whilst the mother grieves and doing his best to annoy his mother by throwing a bouncy ball against the wall repeatedly. The dynamic between the three of them is off putting and as the mother unravels, the children just kind of watch. The lack of reaction was pretty bizarre, especially for the daughter.

All of that said, there is tension throughout as the film does do an okay job of showing just how broken these humans are. It could have done better, but it’s at least watchable largely due to the performance of Danielle Deadwyler who plays the mother. She is what really sells the tension. Every second of her screen time is spent on her being on the verge of something awful.

Three out of five stars. If you’re looking for better metaphors on depression and grief, I recommend The Night House.