In a time when many horror films try to be either thinkpieces or thrill rides and fail to be either, The Woman in the Yard (2025) hits a rare sweet spot. It’s a horror film that’s genuinely tense, emotionally grounded, and smartly contained. It may not be a game-changer, but it’s a solid, satisfying entry in the modern horror canon—and a reminder that even filmmakers with inconsistent track records like Jaume Collet-Serra can deliver when the right material lands in the right hands.
‘The Woman in the Yard’ Movie Review
The Woman in the Yard marks a welcome return to form for director Jaume Collet-Serra, a filmmaker who’s spent much of the past decade on big-budget studio work like Black Adam, Jungle Cruise, and Carry-On. While those projects often positioned him as more of a journeyman than an auteur, The Woman in the Yard suggests he still knows how to deliver tightly controlled, engaging genre filmmaking. It may not reinvent horror, but it stands as one of the more effective studio horror efforts of recent years—atmospheric, tense, and refreshingly uncluttered by overworked subtext.
The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as Ramona, a recently widowed mother trying to rebuild life with her two children, Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha), after the death of her husband David (Russell Hornsby) in a tragic car crash. Their grief is already raw and ever-present, but it becomes something much more ominous when a mysterious woman appears in their yard, dressed in black and repeating the same cryptic message: “Today’s the day.” What begins as unsettling soon turns terrifying, as the figure edges closer to their home with each passing hour, forcing the family to confront not only their emotional wounds, but a possibly supernatural threat that mirrors them.
Collet-Serra doesn’t get bogged down in the kind of “elevated horror” trappings that have dominated the genre for over a decade. Instead of offering a treatise on trauma, The Woman in the Yard uses grief as a backdrop, not the whole canvas. The themes are present but deliberately vague, much like M. Night Shyamalan’s best genre work—emotionally resonant but never over-explained. The movie is far more interested in tension, pacing, and payoff than it is in dissecting its own metaphors. That makes it a rarity these days: a studio horror film that balances dread with economy, and never forgets that it’s here to scare you.
That simplicity works in its favor. The core concept is eerie but clean: a family in mourning, a strange woman lurking in the yard, and a single day in which everything unravels. Collet-Serra’s direction is laser-focused, avoiding the pitfalls of both overwrought symbolism and watered-down scares. The result is a lean, efficient horror film that builds suspense through repetition, restraint, and a clever sense of visual geography. Much like Talk to Me from 2022—though far less heavy-handed—The Woman in the Yard keeps its supernatural elements rooted in believable emotion and lets its terror creep in slowly but effectively.
Deadwyler is the film’s anchor, delivering a grounded and moving performance that elevates material that could have otherwise felt thin. Her chemistry with the young actors helps the family dynamic feel real, which is crucial in a movie that relies so heavily on psychological unease. The supporting cast, including Hornsby in flashbacks, helps round out the emotional stakes without tipping into melodrama.
If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that the film doesn’t really redefine Collet-Serra as a director. He’s still hard to pin down stylistically—his filmography remains a patchwork of genres, tones, and sensibilities. There’s little that connects Orphan, The Shallows, and now The Woman in the Yard, apart from a clear understanding of genre mechanics. Maybe he’s not an auteur in the traditional sense, but when given material like this—concise, spooky, and character-driven—he knows exactly how to make it work.
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In a time when many horror films try to be either thinkpieces or thrill rides and fail to be either, The Woman in the Yard hits a rare sweet spot. It’s a horror film that’s genuinely tense, emotionally grounded, and smartly contained. It may not be a game-changer, but it’s a solid, satisfying entry in the modern horror canon—and a reminder that even filmmakers with inconsistent track records can deliver when the right material lands in the right hands.
Score: 7/10
The Woman in the Yard (2025)
- Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha, Russell Hornsby
- Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
- Genre: Horror, Mystery
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: March 28, 2025
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