The Woman in the Yard (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
4 days ago
2 min read

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD (2025)

Starring Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha and Russell Hornsby.

Screenplay by Sam Stefanak.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

Distributed by Universal Pictures. 87 minutes. Rated PG-13.

The striking poster for The Woman in the Yard – that of a woman sitting underneath a billowing black shroud by a country path – makes the film look like it will be a ghost story. It turns out to be much more complicated than that – for better and for worse.

Because eventually we never really know who or what the woman in the yard is – a ghost, a demon, a malicious neighbor, a hallucination, a guilty conscience, a metaphor – and eventually that ambiguity strains the story to the point that the plot makes little sense and the viewer loses interest.

Which is a shame because it had one hell of a good set up. I’d even go farther to say that for the first two thirds of the film, The Woman in the Yard was a terrific scare film, slickly directed by action veteran Jaume Collet-Serra (who has, amongst other things, helmed three Liam Neeson films).

It’s just that ending that sort lets the air out of the tires.

Still, in the early going, The Woman in the Yard has a chilling sense of isolation and dread. There are only five characters in the entire film, and one of them is only shown in flashbacks and short home videos. Well, if you count the dog, I guess there are six.

Danielle Deadwyler (of Till) plays the lead character, Ramona. Ramona has recently survived a tragic car crash that killed her husband (Russell Hornsby). Now she has a leg in a cast and is going through a deep depression, spending most of her time in bed and somewhat ignoring her children, a teen boy named Taylor (Peyton Jackson), and a younger girl named Annie (Estella Kahiha).

One day, they hear the dog barking outside, and Taylor notices the woman in black sitting on their lawn. It’s not likely that she just got lost – the nearest neighbor is two miles away – and besides, where did she get the chair?

Ramona goes out to talk with the woman, but that just makes things more disquieting. The woman seems to know a lot more about the family and their situation than she should. And she refuses to leave.

Suddenly the family find themselves prisoners in their own home. But is the woman evil and does she have special powers, or is it all in their heads?

The Woman in the Yard did not get much traction when it was released in theaters earlier this year. Now that it is being released on video, it has a chance to capture more attention. And it deserves that chance, even if the climax is a bit of a letdown, the film on a whole is a pretty interesting experience.

Jay S. Jacobs