A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Woman in the Yard” (2025).
“The Woman in the Yard”, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, has been released very quietly with barely a whisper of marketing. But I found it to be one of the best horror films I’ve seen in the last year. It has some genuinely spooky moments.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“The Woman in the Yard” Plot:
Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is recovering from a tragic car crash that killed her husband David (Russell Hornsby). She is struggling with her grief while still trying to maintain normality for her two children, young teen Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and her younger daughter Annie (Estella Kahiha). One day, a veiled woman dressed all in black sits in a chair outside their house.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong Horror”. This is another example of a film that is a 15 in the UK and only a PG-13 in the States. I actually agree that it kind of hovers in between age 12 and age 15. It’s one that might have got away with a 12A here. )
Talent:
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha, Okwui Okpokwasili, Russell Hornsby.
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra.
Written by: Sam Stefanak.
Running Time: 1h 28m.
“The Woman in the Yard” Summary:
Positives:
- The film is genuinely spooky in places and made me sit on the edge of my seat a few times.
- The script takes you on an interesting journey, with throwbacks to some classic film and TV themes.
- The ending is open to wide interpretation: you leave the film with a lot of questions in your head.
- Lorne Balfe’s music is really atmospheric.
Negatives:
- The ending will disappoint some people and baffle others. (I loved the option for multiple interpretations.)
Review of “The Woman in the Yard”:
It’s like XXXX, and also has elements of XXX and XXXXX.
This is a film that’s good to go into cold, so I will struggle to express my full feelings about it without dropping spoilers. There are a number of great callbacks to other films that I will cover in the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer. But one I think I can mention is the classic Doctor Who episode featuring “The Weeping Angels”. (I’m referring to the episode “Blink”… not the pretty disappointing return visits). In “Blink”, the stone statues (“The Weeping Angels”) move closer to you if you look away. Similarly here, the spooky woman, all dressed in black, starts off sitting in the chair across the road from Ramona’s house, but then progressively moves closer. It’s a hugely unsettling thing to watch.
Great character building.
I’ve seen some comment from IMDB reviewers that some found the build-up to the film too slow. But I disagree. I really liked the time taken to establish the characters: Danielle Deadwyler is just superb as the grief-stricken mum, dealing with the double whammy of depression and guilt; Peyton Jackson as the teen, promoted to ‘man of the house’ but still viewed as a child by his mother; and Estella Kahiha as Annie who, spookily (in retrospect), writes some of her letters backwards, much to the fury of her mother.
More psychological horror than blood and gore.
For a Blumhouse horror film, it is remarkably restrained with the horror more coming from the psychological tension ratcheting-up regarding what is going to happen. The film does resort to some jump-scares, but most are of the ‘shadows moving across the background’ variety that provoke skin-crawls rather than jumps. A scene where Taylor (Peyton Jackson) is in the garage is a good case in point.
Supporting the creepy narrative is a highly effective score from Lorne Balfe.
A divisive ending.
I really enjoyed the ending of the film, since it is open to lots of different interpretations. Did something key happen at the end of the film? Or not? More discussion is reserved for the Spoiler Section below the trailer.
Triggers
There is a pretty heavy theme in this one at one point regarding grief, depression and suicide that affected viewers should be aware of.
Summary Thoughts on “The Woman in the Yard”
I thought this was a really enjoyable psychological horror that leaves you with more questions than answers. It has a pretty low IMDB rating of 5.4, but I reckon many of those voting simply didn’t get the depth and complexity of the ending (and particularly, the closing shot). As a horror, it’s not too yucky for those who don’t like that sort of gore and at just 88 minutes it makes for a nice ‘amuse bouche’ of a movie visit. Recommended.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The Woman in the Yard”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27aEM6q1Wqs.
Spoiler Section:
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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Film influences
The concept of a “mirror world” has been toyed with by many films over the years (for example 2018’s “Parallel”). Plus, of course, all of the Marvel ‘multi-verse’ movies adopt a similar concept. The closest match though is a little sci-fi gem written by the great Gerry Anderson from 1969 called “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun“. In that film, astronauts discover a mirror image of earth on the other side of the sun. That has mirrored writing and everything!
The film also strongly reminded me of “Poltergeist“, in the sequence where young Annie was taken to “the other side”, and also reminded me of the sort of quiet psychological rural-tension-ramping of M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs”.
What happened at the end?
The key question posed by the ending is whether Ramona actually shot herself or not.
One interpretation is that Ramona absorbed her grief, depression and guilt (as implicated by the shadowy woman merging with her body) and the ending you see is for real: the power coming back on; Ramona being reunited with her kids; the dog being alive; a Hollywood happy ending cop-out!
The darker interpretation is that she did pull the trigger, possibly after also killing both of her children (the knifing of Annie being real). What we then see is her entering the mirror world where her husband is still alive; their house is complete (and named “Iris Haven”) and everything is rosy in the world. The key shot that supports this scenario is the final shot of the painting showing Ramona spelled backwards. But rather confusingly, “Iris Haven” is spelled the RIGHT WAY ROUND, which doesn’t fit that narrative.
If you have a view as to which of these (or a different!) option is correct, then please comment.
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