DVD REVIEW: The Woman

To truly enjoy a film, you must completely immerse yourself into the world and the story that you are being told through the screen. Of course, a film needs to be captivating enough for this to happen but I suppose it's all too easy to blame a film for "not being good enough" on our inability to believe or accept what we are being shown on screen.

Having said all of that, one of my biggest pet peeves when watching horror films with other people is when they decide to laugh... at parts that are not funny.

To me, laughter during horror films is a bit of a weak defence mechanism. As though horror films are designed to scare us, I don't appreciate when someone decides to laugh to show us how totally not scared they are (and then invariably comment after the laugh with something like, "What the hell was that?!" or "That was stupid!")

This is exactly the reason why I decide to watch most horror films on my own and why I'm glad that I saw The Woman with no one else around.

This is because, the premise of the film is a little... different and requires it's audience to be accepting of what is happening on-screen without thinking "what if..." too much.

Now, this sounds like I am making excuses for a film with a really weak plot, but actually I found The Woman to be told in such a captivating way that I found it easy to be taken in so much by the film.

The film revolves around one of the last surviving members of a wild and violent clan that has been completely void of any sense of civilisation. She is feral and aggressive and is simply known as, 'The Woman' (played by Pollyanna McIntosh). She is captured by a country lawyer and father, Chris Cleek (played by Sean Bridgers) who ties her up in his cellar and attempts to civilise her into modern society with the help of his family. What follows is a slow descent into madness as Chris and his son, Brian Cleek (Zach Rand) start to become obsessive over The Woman locked in their cellar while the rest of their family look on anxiously.

Of course, it comes by no surprise and doesn't take a genius to guess that at the end of the film some sort of revenge takes place.

Like I said, even though the premise of the film can be seen as a little bit weird, the comparison of the wild and feral Woman to the kitsch and outwardly "perfect" family is spot on. The film does a good job at teasing us with feeling some sympathy towards The Woman (difficult, as though she is introduced to us as wild and untamed) by making us realise that looks are not everything and sometimes the real evil can be in the places that we least expect it.

Some of the problems that the film faces is a rather tacked on sub-plot involving the daughter and her teacher. The scenes with the teacher, Miss Hindle (played by Lauren Petre) and the daughter, Peggy Cleek (played by Lauren Ashley Carter) are some of the weakest in the film. The acting from the teacher was just odd and the daughter didn't really bring anything to the plot until the final act, where she played a pivotal role.

However, this is insignificant compared to the rest of the film where we are left with a disturbing but very different type of horror film. While not as gory or disgusting as most modern "torture porn" films (apart from maybe the final act of the film, which suddenly amps up the gore ten-fold), it is still a film definitely worth catching...

... That is of course, if you feel that you are able to watch it without laughing.

**** / *****