By Geno McGahee
Every horror film needs a good villain…and most of the time, I find redeeming value in the bad guy. There’s something about them that I like. At times, I will support the villain, cheering him on as he kills and kills again, but then there are movies like THE WOMAN. I just finished it and I’m still angry with the villain.
We begin with Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers), a domineering father and hunter that stumbles across a feral woman in the woods. He captures her in attempts to “civilize” her but his true intentions are quite clear. He hates women and sees her merely as an object…a sex slave.
Chris’s wife Belle (Angela Bettis) has to endure the rule of her husband. The performances all around by the cast was tremendous, but Bettis was able to get her emotions out without saying much of a word. She was in a hopeless situation and just put up with her abusive husband and his wicked ways, which included keeping a woman tied up in his shed and the ill treatment of his daughters.
The son, Brian (Zach Rand) is another amazing villain in this film. The character is about 14 or so years old and he is an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree. He idolizes his father and copies a lot of what he sees dear old dad do. It didn’t take me long to cheer for the wild woman to get loose and kick some ass. Brian and his dad are two of the most effective true villains in horror film history. I hated them both. I still hate them. I know that the day is going to come when I see Rand or Bridgers in something else and I scream: “That’s the prick from THE WOMAN! Kill him!” They were that effective as villains.
The most likable character was Peggy (Lauren Ashley Carter), a teen girl harboring a family secret. She is having issues at school and her home life is unbearable. She has nowhere to turn, except for a teacher that is trying to look out for her.
The scenes of torture are done so well. There are so many horror films that get really gory with the torture scenes, but THE WOMAN used quick edits mixed with disgusting sound effects and allowed the viewer’s imagination to do the rest and it was incredibly effective. I was cringing when young Brian tortured the woman.
Written and Directed by Lucky McKee, THE WOMAN is a big time winner. We have true villains here that deserve everything that they get. We have one twist in the end that was sort of silly and we could have probably done without, but this is such a quality film that they could have done just about anything and got away with it.
Pollyanna McIntosh did a great job as “The Woman” as well. She had a difficult role and handled it incredibly well. She was easy to root for and was very believable.
THE WOMAN was such a great movie. I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10.
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My theory is that Chris liked and wanted feril women, in contrast with his weak wife and older daughter. His younger daughter was treated nice by him because she was also feril, at least the movie hints this until the end when she licks the blood. She was a wild child like the woman and socket. This were two fucked up men, sadist, yes, but misoginist,at least i didn’t thought that of chris, maybe his son, but Chris, I thought it was more that he hated his wife becuase she was weak and felt attracted to the woman becuase her violent nature,the same as his, and the challenge that was to tame her. I saw jeolusy in Belle’s when she watched him bath her and then when she cried when he went to have sex with her in the cellar. But maybe I’m wrong.
That’s a very interesting theory! I didn’t think of it that way but when you mention the jealousy, it was definitely present! It was such a disturbing film.