There aren’t many horror films these days that divide audiences to the point of walking out of a screening and deeming that it “ought to be confiscated [and] burned. There’s no value in showing this to anyone.” The only films that I could see this quote being applied to are The Human Centipede (1 and 2) and A Serbian Film (which I haven’t seen yet). While I don’t agree at all with the quote, I can understand how the movie might offend some people due to the subject matter and the way it humiliates and degrades women.
Lucky McKee’s The Woman, which is based off a bestselling novel by Jack Ketchum, is about a country lawyer, Chris Cleek, who finds a wild woman in the forest. Deciding that it is only right to capture and domesticate her, Chris ties her up in his shed in an attempt to civilize the “creature.” What he doesn’t realize is that she once belonged to a very violent clan and that by keeping her in his shed, he puts his entire family at risk if she ever gets loose.
What makes this movie so bizarre and disturbing is that the dad thinks he is doing a service for this woman, a good deed if you will. By chaining her up and treating her like a wild animal he hopes that he can domesticate her into his world, a world run by men. This should be your first indication that this chauvinistic, old school patriarchal philosophy that the father lives by means that we are going to experience some f’d up shitake mushrooms, if you know what I mean. The first interaction between the two, and you see coming from a mile away, is that Chris stupidly gets his finger bitten off by The Woman, her quick attempt to show him that he is not in control as much as he thinks he is…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Sean Bridgers, who played Chris Cleek, was very over the top with his acting but it surprisingly worked for a majority of the film. You hated this guy from the minute you’re introduced to him and your level of hate just kept rising as the movie progressed. McKee makes it very clear early on who you should loathe and who you should probably cheer on, despite the potential consequences of doing so.
Some of the acting was actually pretty funny on occasion as well, particularly anything that had to do with the daughter Peggy, played by Lauren Ashley Carter. There was something wrong with her from the first minute of the film and we don’t exactly know what it is, but when you know or realize it you go “OOOOOhhhhhh, now it all makes sense.” She had this constant worrisome look on her face, as if she were a toddler who got caught by their parents doing something wrong. It was hysterical 
because she kept the same exact face for the ENTIRE movie. I wanted to see her bleak expression change a little just for the sake of knowing that she wasn’t a prop.
In the end, the real credit goes to Pollyanna McIntosh who played ‘The Woman.’ She was disgusting, brutal, and just a completely ferocious savage, letting the role conquer anything even remotely human about her. Horror aficionados will probably dub her with cult status for her beastly portrayal of the titular character.
You’re probably wondering why this film caused such a divide amongst movie-goers. I’ll tell you. The controversial points of the film really revolve around the father’s philosophy and how his son takes after him directly. There is rape, there is wife beating, there is dehumanizing people and there are some sick and viciously gory attack scenes. The comforting part about the film is that there are even a few surprise twists that will catch you completely off guard. I was shocked by how messed up this family was but when I got to the end my impressions of them were actually too generous.
Lucky McKee’s The Woman is a sick and twisted foray into the American countryman psyche and what happens when old school philosophies about women are contorted in the mind of a sadistic male pig. It is a film that will anger everyone in the audience but it is the ending where you have to decide whether it is worth still being angry or if justice has been appropriately served. Either way, The Woman is one wacked out little horror film.
Rating: Required viewing for any cult or horror fans (6.4/10)
The Woman hits theaters on October 14th thanks to Bloody Disgusting Selects. Click HERE for to see if it is playing near you!
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