Blumhouse horror movies tend to be somewhat polarizing. The company has produced plenty of hits, like The Black Phone, M3GAN, Get Out, and Happy Death Day, but it has also distributed its fair share of duds (last year was rough between Night Swim and Imaginary), making it hard to suss out whether or not upcoming films will be good.
But I have to say, the latest trailer for The Woman in the Yard has me excited, especially since it looks like this isolated rural horror film will lean heavily into some Flannery O'Connor/folk horror vibes. That, coupled with the fact it was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra—the man behind House of Wax, The Shallows, Orphan, and Carry-On—has me excited. Watch the newly released trailer embedded above.
Don't let her in
The second trailer provides us with more plot details. After the death of her husband, single mother Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is doing her best to take care of her two children, while simultaneously managing an injury that has her on crutches. The small family lives a quiet and seemingly comfortable life in a pastoral home complete with a family dog and a chicken coop. They're managing, until one day they notice a veiled woman clad in all black perched on a chair in the lawn.
She ominously suggests that someone in the house summoned her, saying she only comes when she's "called." Ramona tries to scare her with threats of her husband returning, but this woman knows she's lying. "We both know your husband's not coming home." With a flick of her wrist, she reveals a smashed-up car hidden beneath a tarp. Ramona's husband likely died in a car accident (another small snippet in the trailer shows a clip from the night of his death).
Did Ramona pray for her husband's death? Was she in the car when he died? Was she the one behind it? If so, perhaps this woman helped and now she's come to collect her price. What does she want? Well, at one point she does say Ramona's children look good enough to eat... so.
The trailer gives away perhaps more than it should, already showcasing that this woman, whoever she is, cannot function in the darkness (or at night?), as she needs her shadow to get inside the house. I love when horror movies play with the daylight. We're so used to things that go bump in the night, it's a nice subversion when characters realize they're no longer safe in the light.
The Woman in the Yard will be released in theaters on March 28.
