- Content: “Don’t Let Dark Thoughts Overcome You”
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What You Need To Know:
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD is an artistically shot movie with creepy but routine scares. The movie seems sincere in its exploration of a widowed mother battling severe grief and depression while she struggles to keep it all together. As the plot evolves, some disturbing questions about the deadly car accident emerge. The strange woman in black becomes more threatening, but the movie ends with the children helping the mother overcome the darkness threatening them. That said, the ending could have been stronger and more overtly redemptive. Also, THE WOMAN IN THE YARD is marred by strong but brief foul language, many creepy scares and strong violence.
Content:
Light metaphorical Christian and moral worldview, but not fully developed, about the darkness in our spirit, soul and mind that can lead us to destruction, but a widowed mother battling sever grief, depression and guilt is in a vulnerable and weakened mental state, the mother seems to pray for strength, but the prayer is ambiguous, though the movie ends with a glimmer of hope and the apparent lesson that people should not let dark thoughts overcome them (this message could have been strong and more overtly and, even better, more openly Christian, however), plus a mysterious woman in black who seems to represent dark thoughts can be interpreted as demonic;
Two light profanities, one or two “f” words, four “s” words, and two other obscenities;;
Strong violence depicted, a vision of someone being stabbed in the back with a knife, threats with a gun, the swinging of a fire poker, a leg wound is shown gushing some blood, suicide becomes a real possibility but in the end doesn’t happen, a mysterious figure that may be demonic appears to encourage suicide, an image of bloody hands, verbal abuse of children, physical abuse of children is implied not shown, images of bloody chickens, a car wreck is shown but injuries not shown, there are some jump scares and scary images, and a dark character seems to have supernatural shadow-wielding ability;
No sex shown;
No nudity;
One scene where characters are drinking wine at dinner, and drunk driving may have possibly led to a fatal crash and injury;
No smoking, but prescription drugs are shown, but not taken, but later it’s mentioned that the mother character takes “crazy person pills”;
Mother bends the truth and lies about situations to her children throughout to “change the scary parts” (which is a central theme in the movie), teenage son is often disobedient and defiant toward his mother in a typical rebellious teenage manner, mother’s grief and depression make a bad role model for her children, and mother often loses her temper and is verbally abusive with the children, so the family dynamic is quite dysfunctional, but the movie ends on a possible ray of hope centered on the positive contribution children make in people’s lives.
More Detail:
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD begins with Ramona watching a video on repeat on her phone from under the sheets. She is in a brace uses crutches after the car accident. The house is in disarray. Her teenage son, Taylor, asks if she is going to call the electric company as the power is out. She yells at him to let her wake up first. Clearly in pain, she says “give me strength” implying prayer, but God is not mentioned.
In her daughter’s room, she hears Annie in her tent reading a book to her stuffed penguin. She says she changed the scary parts. Meanwhile Taylor takes care of the chickens and the dog and makes breakfast. The dog food runs out, and Taylor feeds him leftovers. When the stove won’t light, he gets frustrated.
Ramona considers taking her prescription medication but decides against it. She finds her phone battery is dead, and she can’t call about the power outage. Taylor broke his phone, so he can’t call either. The dog pukes up the food, and Ramona tells Taylor to put the dog outside on the chain. Taylor is defiant but does it.
Ramons opens a sympathy card, and in a slow-motion vision she remembers the car accident and sees a woman in a black dress and black veil sitting in a chair in the yard through the window. Taylor breaks her vision by telling her there really is a woman in the yard.
They discuss the possibilities of this unknown visitor. Scared, Annie says, “Daddy would know what to do.” This drives Ramona to gather her courage and crutches to go talk to her, despite Taylor’s protests that she’s injured. Taylor assures Annie that he’ll always look after her, despite Mom not really being Mom lately.
Outside, the woman asks Ramona how she got here. She asks the woman to leave because her husband is coming home soon. The woman says she knows that’s not true and adds Ramona must have walked away “lucky”, indicating the wrecked truck and her injury. The woman also says that Ramona’s children are “ripe enough to eat.” Ramona threatens to call the police. The woman remains and says, “Today is the day.”
Ramona goes to car in garage to plug in her phone, passing a chicken coop of mutilated chickens. The car will not start. The woman lifts her hands, and the dog stops barking. Ramona goes back to the house, lying to the children about what happened. She offers them ice cream while they try to wait her out. Taylor won’t let it go and wants to get his dad’s gun. Ramona angrily says no. Ramona says the doors are locked, and they just need to wait for the power to come back on. Taylor offers for her to let him drive to a neighbor’s house. Ramona says no, not telling him about the car not starting. Angry, Taylor says he’ll just walk, but she again denies. She sees herself stabbing her daughter with a kitchen knife, but it is really a pillow. Taylor sees the woman closer to the house.
Taylor makes a run for the car, which still will not start. The woman is seen walking closer. Taylor stands guard with a fire poker and almost hits his mother. He questions why she didn’t tell them about the car and why they should listen to her because she’s on “crazy person pills.” After losing her temper with him, Taylor runs to get the gun and locks Ramona in a room.
Outside, Taylor tells the woman to get off his property and threatens to shoot her. She stands and takes off her veil, saying his mother has been lying about that night. He demands Ramona tell him the truth about what happened the night his dad died. She tells him.
In the golden hour of the sun setting, the woman uses shadows through the house to cause chaos knocking things over. She’s in the house and threatening them all, but to what end?
Through the eyes of a woman plagued with depression, grief and now dark visions, real and imagined, the movie reveals that the woman in the yard has been with Ramona long before today. . .
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD is an artistically shot movie, with believable acting and routine scares for the horror genre. As such, it’s sincere in its exploration of a woman who’s battling severe grief and depression as she struggles to keep it all together. The plot follows the spiraling memory of an unreliable narrator in the throes of mental distress. However, the filmmakers insert some deeply disturbing implications that leave viewers questioning what really happened during the car accident. THE WOMAN IN THE YARD also has some dark themes dealing with marital discord and suicidal thoughts. The movie’s ending, though, implies that it’s the children who can help a mother dispel the dark thoughts and strengthen her the next time the dark thoughts appear. So, the ending leaves viewers with a glimmer of hope. Thus, THE WOMAN IN THE YARD seems to be telling moviegoers, “Don’t let dark thoughts overcome you.” That said, the movie’s ending and message should have been stronger, more redemptive (including more overtly Christian), and better developed in the movie’s first two acts.
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD has strong but brief foul language, many creepy scares and strong violence. So, all in all, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
