‘The Woman’ is Sick, Twisted and Disturbing (Review)

Written by: Daniel Hadley

If I were to use one word to describe this movie it would be ‘disturbing’. It’s not often that a movie disturbs me nowadays having been slowly desensitized over the years by mainstream, direct to DVD and indie horror movies, but every now and then a movie like The Woman will come around and just shock me to my core.

The Woman is the direct sequel to 2009’s The Offspring which I wasn’t a fan of, luckily this is easily viewed as a standalone film. The plot starts up with a family man Named Chris stumbling across an injured Feral woman in the woods, after capturing her he decides to take her home to his family and civilize her. After chaining her up in his shed he takes it upon himself to turn her into an upstanding citizen. Now normally this would be seen as a little weird or even a little crazy.

Lucky Mckee director of horror fan favourite May and the criminally underrated thriller Red, delivers a truly twisted vision of American Family life. Straight out of the gate we know something is up with Chris (Played brilliantly by Sean Bridgers). His character just exudes an aura of menace that pervades his seemingly happy and charming demeanour. This is a family with some dark secrets – truly dark twisted secrets and all of that comes to a head in one of the most shocking and disturbing final acts I have ever had the fortune to witness. It’s almost beautiful in its display of madness and sheer brutality leading right up to its bittersweet closing moments. It’s truly something to behold, like I said this is a family with some dark and I mean truly sickeningly demented dark secrets.

Everything about this movie is top rate. The acting is great from everyone involved: Angela Bettis (who some will recognize as the titular character from May) gives a fine performance as wife who is forced to play her husband’s demented games, you really get a sense that this is a woman who has been beaten down over the years, forced to sit on the fence as her husband goes about is heinous activities. I’m saying too much already and the urge to go into gruesome detail is almost overbearing, but I restrain myself.

Of all the countless horror movies I have seen over the years very few stand out as truly exceptional, but this is one of them. Sick, twisted, disturbing and above all else horrifying, The Woman is essential viewing for any horror fan.

Rating: 5/5