The Woman In 210 Words Or Less

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I wanted to be more traumatized by The Woman than I was. There were a few moments where the film churned up my stomach acid and dug its nails into my nervous system, but target-wise it scattered more than it knifed straight in. The main problems for me were two of the lead performances - I found Sean Bridgers as the malevolent patriarch rather flat. Much like the similarly praised by horror-folk performance by Patrick Fabian in The Last Exorcism, I remain unconvinced. He never hooked me; his monstrousness felt half-hearted. And as the titular Woman, a feral forest-banshee of ravenous appetites, Pollyanna McIntosh (what a name!) was too much of a pose-able action figure, her look designed too clearly, aiming for mythic stature without earning it. Her performance was drowned out by a hipster hair-do and fervently yet perfectly applied eyeliner. But Angela Bettis is very good as a woman boiling on the inside though, trapped and beaten down, and all the kids leave strong impressions (Zach Rand as the "taking after his poppa" son milks far more mileage from his hateful character than Bridgers did, I thought). It's kind of what you'd expect an afterschool special in Hell to look like.

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