Blumhouse’s horror film The Woman in the Yard earned $4.5 million from 2,845 cinemas in its sophomore frame, and ended its run a week later.
Grade: C+ (** out f *****)
The film is stars Danielle Deadwyler as the matriarch of a family who sees a strange woman (in the yard).
Ramona is a widowed mother who was disabled after a car accident that killed her husband David. She cares for their two children Taylor and Annie, but she is strict and emotionally distant from them.
One day, a mysterious woman draped in black appears in the yard, claiming that “Today’s the day.”
After a brief and disturbing conversation with the Woman, Ramona advises her children to stay away from her. Unconvinced by his mother’s story, Taylor tells her that she needs to get rid of the unwanted guest or he will.
This results in Ramona losing her temper and throwing a mug at their kitchen floor out of anger. Taylor disobeys her, however, and pulls up a chair in front of the window overlooking the yard.
The Woman in the Yard claims a spooky premise, but even Deadwyler’s committed performance could not save a story that’s too heavy-handed with metaphors.
The tale got particularly convoluted in its third act, leading to indifference rather than genuine scares among the viewers.
Spanish-American director Jaume Collet-Serra, a proficient craftsman, is ultimately defeated by the script, resulting in no more than a footnote in his otherwise impressive career.
Collet-Serra had first achieved fame with the horror movies House of Wax (2005), Orphan (2009), and The Shallows (2016). And he is perhaps better known for collaborations with Liam Neeson on the thrillers Unknown (2011), Non-Stop (2014), Run All Night (2015) and The Commuter (2018), and Dwayne Johnson on the blockbusters Jungle Cruise (2021) and Black Adam (2022).
It did not help that audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “C–” on an A+ to F scale.
The movie has grossed only $23 million, but, fortunately for its backers, “The Woman in the Yard” cost just $12 million to produce.
