The Woman in the Yard (2025)

SPOILERS AHEAD...you've been warned...

"The Woman in the Yard" first appears as a horror film with a demon/ghost/grim reaper-like character but the viewer begins to learn it’s actually a film about mental illness and how the deep corners of our mind are sometimes the scariest horror of all - done in a way that has very Jordan Peele-esque music, writing, and cinematography stills.

The film opens with Ramona asking for the strength to get through the day and how the burden of grief (following his father’s passing) is felt by Ramona’s son who takes on the responsibilities of feeding the dog and making his family breakfast. Following a power outage, a mysterious woman in black appears in the front yard of their family farm as a personification of Ramona’s intrusive thoughts and mental health struggles in dealing with the guilt of her husband’s death. Her haunting presence is a symbolic representation of how mental illness “haunts” us and we can’t escape our own minds, even if we run away. Her children, sensing their mother’s distress, can see this figure too - just as those around us can perceive the manifestations of mental illness, even if they don’t fully understand it. The opening scenes of the son handling everything and telling his sister, “I know Mom hasn’t been the same lately but I’m here” is his attempt at making up for her avoidant behaviors due to depression, grief, and locking herself in her room. He begins to feel as though his mother won’t protect him from the “woman in black” so he says “If Dad was here he’d know what to do”, is symbolic of how, as a child, he could sense that his parents would help each other in emotional regulation and support. We see this again when the son takes his dad’s gun and tries to shoot the woman in the yard - this is him trying to think he can just fix the problem easily and giving him a false sense of control. It’s very scary for a kid to be witnessing the decline of someone and not understanding what’s going on - especially of someone they rely on to be in control and be the responsible adult. It’s almost as if the kids can sense their mother could do something to herself.

The power outage the farm is experiencing that day, while the skies are clear and no bad weather to cause it, seems to be yet another symbol of Ramona’s depression and mental illness struggles. The phrase "lights are out, nobody’s home" is often used to describe someone who seems mentally absent, unresponsive, or disconnected from reality. In the context of mental illness, it can refer to a person experiencing dissociation, severe depression, or catatonia—when someone is physically present but emotionally or cognitively detached. It can also imply a vacant or numb state, where a person is going through the motions of life but is not fully engaged or aware. The phrase "the day the lights went out" can symbolize a pivotal moment of emotional collapse, trauma, or the onset of a deep depressive episode. It may represent the moment someone loses hope, spirals into darkness, or feels their mental state take a severe turn for the worse. In storytelling, it’s often used to mark a point where a character reaches their lowest moment, mentally or emotionally, before either succumbing to their struggles or fighting to regain control.

The day escalates further and further until the “woman in black” tells Ramona she is the darkest corners of her mind and is depicted as a looming shadow over her. She antagonizes Ramona all day, “Today’s the day!”, implying today is the day she will commit sui*ide. The woman in black is painfully guiding her through the dark process. The turning point comes when Ramona sees her daughter's stuffed animal, a small but profound moment that reconnects her to reality. In that instant, she chooses to stay. When the lights flicker back on, it signifies a decision—to fight, to continue, even if the darkness may return. The film doesn’t suggest that mental illness disappears entirely. When her children ask if the woman in black will return, Ramona’s response is telling: "Not anytime soon. But if she does, I’ll be more ready." It’s an acknowledgment that the battle is ongoing, but with awareness and resilience, she can face it.

The family is seen reconnecting, happily running back into their home and the lights come back on - yet another symbolic message of how it feels when dark thoughts are quelled. The camera pans to a painting Ramona did seemingly depicting herself and a shadow haunting her. At the bottom of the painting, Ramona signed her named backwards - a nod to earlier in the day when she was helping her daughter with learning to spell and her daughter kept writing the letter “R” backwards. Now - this is a bit of a debate…Did Ramona succumb to her thoughts and is now in “Heaven”? Is this an alternate reality? Is this in the future and she felt inspired to paint again after her daughter asked her “Mommy, are you ever going to paint again?” and Ramona replies, “Maybe, if a pretty enough picture comes into my mind.”? (Implying that she processed her grief and moved forward) Was the whole film a symbolic depiction of purgatory, that she actually died in the car accident and this was all a post-mortem journey, with Ramona navigating her own liminal space, ultimately choosing to ascend to heaven rather than remain in suffering?

Personally, I think the presence of the Iris Haven sign, unaltered, suggests this is not an alternate reality but a metaphorical reckoning. I think the sign was put there by her husband prior to his death and the whole day was just a manifestation of the peak of a mental illness episode. The backwards “Ramona” on the painting at the end is a snapshot into the future of how she has moved on and using her art to express her grief and using the backwards “Ramona” as an artistic signature and a nod to how that day was a turning point and a new beginning.