Being a massive fan of horror, I am preconditioned to expect the worst from PG-13 big studio outputs. The reality is that horror is highly profitable with little effort, which explains how we get brain-deadening movies like Night Swim or director Jaume Collet-Serra’s previous work, Orphan. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to find Woman in the Yard to be one of the more considered entries in recent memory, albeit with a few issues.
Danielle Deadwyler delivers. After being just shy of an Academy Award nomination for 2022’s Till and again for last year’s The Piano Lesson, it’s clear she is a powerful actress. Whether or not Woman in the Yard truly showcases her range is another conversation, but she delivers on the assignment, carrying the intensity and pain of her character, Ramona, quite well. I also think Peyton Jackson, who plays Ramona’s son, gave a performance that rose above the standard disgruntled teen archetype we’ve seen in similar horror films.
What most impressed me about Woman in the Yard was the camerawork and cinematography. You might be surprised to learn that the film’s cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, was also responsible for both Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar.
Almost the entire film takes place in saturated daylight, making shadows deeper and colors richer. It looked far more expensive than its $15 million budget would suggest. Additionally, the camerawork added visual intrigue to a very self-contained story, making everything feel dynamic and larger in scope. However, as the runtime wore on, the effect of these camera tricks started to feel diminished. But I appreciated the attempt nonetheless.
What I feel most conflicted about is the story. The first two acts efficiently set up the plot and the malevolent force, but the third act was needlessly shaky and convoluted. There’s a difference between thought-provoking narrative opaqueness and being just plain confusing. The film almost redeems itself in its final minutes — I found the very last scene visually and thematically striking — but then gets in its own way (again) just before we cut to black.
To synthesize Woman in the Yard compared to its peers: it’s more thoughtful than most. It seems real consideration went into its making —from acting, to production, to sound design. Which, as someone who has been burned time and time again by this genre, I very much appreciated.
