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Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending ofThe Woman in the Yard.
There are two reasons why the meme ofJamie Lee Curtis saying traumatook off.
First, because she said it funny has the word ever been pronounced trow-ma?
This concept was not invented by Blumhouses 2018Halloween, or by other 2010s heavyweights likeThe BabadookandHereditary.
Her situation looks bleak enough before the titular Woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) arrives.
Todays the day, the Woman tells her.
You called and I came.
Ramona tries to assure her kids that theres nothing out of the ordinary.
Perhaps the Woman simply wandered off from the nearest nursing home, she offers.
Her son wonders if the Woman might be dead and using the shroud to hide her hideous disfigurement.
As it turns out, she is and she isnt.
She has violent fantasies, including ones in which she stabs Annie with a butcher knife.
This allcouldbe trauma, but Taylor reveals that his mother is on crazy pills, suggesting something more diagnosable.
Im the corners of your mind, the scary parts, the Woman explains.
She is Ramonas depression, or, more pointedly, her suicidal ideation.
Todays the day, she follows through: The Woman has arrived to help Ramona pull the trigger.
The film seems to relish in punishing Ramona.
We had this vision of a perfect life, and I just couldnt live it, she later says.
An ambiguous ending only further sours the film.
That seems to be enough to pull her back from the brink.
Her kids come back and suddenly the farmhouse fixer-upper has been fixed up.
Its also been given a name something David always wanted.
In the context of the strangely idyllic final scene, it feels much more like the latter.
As with trauma in horror more broadly, a less-than-positive portrayal of mental illness is nothing new.
Its unlikely well ever escape trauma horror completely.
Even horror thats notabouttrauma tends to be traumatic.
Ultimately, this metaphor deserves a better movie.
