On March 28, Blumhouse Studio, producer of The Quiet Place, The Black Phone, M3GAN, Insidious, and Ma, released The Woman in the Yard, a PG-13 horror movie starring Danielle Deadwyler that focuses on a widowed woman named Ramona and her two kids, Annie (Estelle Kahiha) and Taylor (Peyton Jackson). The power is off, and food is scarce in their farmhouse. Ramona is injured from the same car crash that claimed her late husband’s life.
In the fields sits a woman in a widow’s gown (Okwui Okpokwasili). Her black dress and veil are straight out of the 19th century. Her hands are bloodied, and the chickens slaughtered. The Woman in the Yard explores the idea of grief and how it seeps in through everything, be it windows or curtains.
The film exceeded its projected opening weekend sales, selling $9.4 million worth of tickets. The Woman in the Yard can be considered a horror but should also be considered a thought piece, for it is, first and foremost, an exploratory glance at grief and suicidal ideation. But it does this phenomenally well with its excellent camerawork and the actors’ commitment to their roles. The work with shadows and the use of light in the movie is reflective, which compliments the film’s introspective tone perfectly. It is cerebral in all the best ways, leaving you confused until it neatly ties it all together. The one critique I have with the film is that there is a distinct lack of disclaimers as to the topic.
Overall, I would love to see Blumhouse’s latest film for the first time again. The Woman in the Yard is available in theaters and for streaming on Apple TV.
