Yet another entry in monster is ‘grief and trauma’, which seems to be about 75% of horror output this year. The woman in the yard is grief you see. We get to watch a family of mourning people, going about their days and trying to cope with being sad, the worst of which are the children. Learning to exist in this place of sadness, learning to cope with a new normal, and being forced to become self-sufficient. Trying to inspire their mother, who is the saddest, into still finding the strength and resilience to face another day in the face of traumatic grief and survivor’s guilt, as she withdraws further. The monotony wears thin very quickly and despite some impressive performances, especially by the child actors, this becomes tedious to watch. Once the titular woman appears things get slightly better, but even the horrors come at a languid pace. Some of the horrific visuals and scares are genuinely well executed, and the direction crisp and well framed. But the crumbs of quality all become undermined by ham-fisted symbolism, the main character paints a huge painting that might as well have “METAPHOR” written across the top in big red paint, then later backwards just in case you missed the METAPHOR. This is a harsh review, because the movie’s outcome seemingly advocates simply giving up, romanticising self-destruction, and tries to get the audience to support and sympathize with this decision. Despite directly showing the devastation this choice will inflict on the loved ones left behind, hand-waving it with a line of how ‘they’ll be better off’. Like most aspects of this film, it feels like a cop-out and flimsy means to indulge rushing towards an ending, rather than fighting for something better.