The Woman In The Yard- A Not So Horrifying Miss

As one of the first horror movies to be released in 2025, The Woman in the Yard ends up being a confusing, ambiguous amalgamation that does not live up to what we’ve come to expect from Blumhouse.

My opinion (that you didn’t ask for): Skip it.

Before I go any further...

Spoiler warning: This written review contains spoilers. If you're spoiler-averse, check out the two-minute spoiler-free version on my TikTok (@uninvited.reviewe) and Instagram (@uninvited_reviewer).

Despite a promising premise (a random woman showing up in your yard one day, whispering the ominous promise that "today's the day?" — as a horror film lover, SIGN ME UP), this movie ultimately fails to reach its potential due to a very slow start, a marketing bait-and-switch, and a main character who remains unsympathetic until it's too late (though Danielle Deadwyler does her best).

The marketing for this movie does it no favors, as many people will go in believing they're getting a haunted house/ghost story, only to find themselves watching something entirely different. And while that’s not inherently a bad thing, in this case, it just serves to confuse the audience.

We start the movie by learning that Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is mourning the death of her husband, and that her two children (played by Peyton Jackson and Estelle Kahiha) are trying desperately to pick up the slack — coping with the loss of one parent and the emotional absence of the other. Deadwyler's Ramona is written as a woman grieving deeply, but without the elements of sympathy that would have made her actions feel understandable. And by the time we do get an inkling of what’s actually going on inside her head, it’s too late.

We linger on this family dynamic for about 60 of the film’s 90 minutes, keeping the spotlight there even after the actual “woman in the yard” shows up and tries to command our attention. I do want to give a shoutout to Okwui Okpokwasili, whose turn as the title character is the only one to provide the thrills and chills promised in the premise.

Eventually, the truth behind the woman — that she is, in fact, a personification of Ramona's grief, depression, and fractured psyche — comes to light. And that’s when you realize the true potential this movie had. You realize this isn’t a typical ghost story. It’s a story about the ghosts that live in the dark corners of your mind — the ones that whisper ugly, untrue thoughts when you are at your most vulnerable. Unfortunately, by that point, we’re rushing too quickly toward the end to appreciate the deeply true nature of the movie’s ultimate theme: that the devils in our heads are often far more dangerous than any supernatural ones.

That isn’t to say there aren’t good moments. Danielle Deadwyler and Okwui Okpokwasili make a fantastic team — once they’re actually allowed to interact. The choice to have the Woman’s shadow interact with the physical world gives us a visually compelling twist (and a fresh take on the old idea of ghosts moving things around). The use of light, shadow, and darkness makes the cinematography the

best part of the movie.

Final Thoughts:

This movie could have been an incredibly interesting look at the personification of grief, its effects on family, and the truly horrifying nature of the monsters in our minds. Instead, it ends up being a bogged-down, diet version of what could have been — and will undoubtedly leave audience members with more questions than any answers its ambiguous and confusing third act could hope to provide.