The Woman in the Yard

I was very intrigued by the trailer for The Woman in the Yard because the premise looked so unsettling.  I went to see it last night and it is even more disconcerting than I was expecting.  Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is almost completely debilitated by depression, guilt, and grief after being seriously injured in a car accident that also killed her husband David (Russell Hornsby).  She is isolated in a rundown farmhouse, which was purchased by her husband as a fixer-upper, in a rural area and is struggling to cope with her two children, Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha).  When a mysterious woman (Okwui Okpokwasili), shrouded in black, suddenly appears in the yard, the tension within the house escalates until Ramona is forced to confront her.  This is a compelling exploration of how mental illness can literally haunt a house and there are moments in the third act that are genuinely scary.  I loved the use of reflected images, shadows, and atmospheric sound design to create a feeling of unease.  Deadwyler is haunting as a mother who is coming undone by the weight of her grief and Okpokwasili is absolutely terrifying.  This features a lot of symbolism and there are several scenes that are open to interpretation, especially the ambiguous ending, but I think there is hope at the end of one of the bleakest sequences I've seen in a long time.  I recommend this to fans of psychological horror with the proviso that one interpretation of the ending could be triggering and upsetting for some.