Gotta love a premise achiever. The Woman in the Yard promised a woman in the yard and for at least 75% of film, there was a woman in the yard. For whatever else this film was, it didn’t deceive you. The was a woman in the yard a lot.
Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is struggling. Recently widowed because of a car accident that took her husband and left her on crutches, she hobbles down the stairs of a rural two-story house she can no longer afford trying to raise two kids she can no longer feed. Their phone service 
has been cut off. The power has been cut off. These things are immaterial; the real issue is Ramona herself – Romana lacks the will to keep on going.
The lack of will countenance probably wouldn’t be an issue were Ramona not saddled with two dependent children, a semi-rebellious teenaged boy, Taylor (Peyton Jackson), and a semi-precocious grade-school girl, Annie (Estella Kahiha). Those kids are going to need a responsible parent.
On this powerless morning, this powerless family grows even more insecure when a mysterious woman shrouded head-to-toe in black shows up on their front yard. She looks like she’s missed a funeral procession … or a cocktail party, not sure which. “What does she want?” asks Taylor. Well, buddy, I’m not 
sure you’re ever going to know the answer to that question. After watching the whole film, I didn’t have a good answer for it myself.
But she sure is menacing, and there is a supernatural evil quality about her. The fam has zero tools for getting rid of her and zero tools for fighting her, it seems. And after the dog stops barking, we get an idea of what The Woman in the Yard of capable of doing.
This film feels a lot like something M. Night Shyamalan would make – something the current M. Night Shyamalan would make, mind you, not something the guy who started out making quality thrillers. There’s a hazy “other” representing death and darkness. We don’t know what it wants or what it’s going to do exactly; we just know it ain’t good. And what the film is trying to say is even more confusing than its villain. Is The Woman in the Yard advocating for suicide? Gee, it sure feels that way. Well, I certainly can’t laud that. There is good atmosphere here and a good scare or two, but there’s no way I’m recommending a film advocating the deliberate abandonment of children. No way.
One day, a woman showed up in the yard
She taunted a fam already badly scarred
Not sure why she’s there
But it’s hard not to care
When the pet dog can no longer guard
Rated PG-13, 88 Minutes
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: Sam Stefanak
Genre: Lives that suck
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who are struggling and feel unheard
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People desperately wishing the unheard would get a better ending
