Why So Blu?

The Woman (Blu-ray Review)

One of the most controversial horror films of the last year is has finally hit the Blu-ray format and she is known as The Woman. We have already covered the theatrical cut of the review, but now comes time to review the Blu-ray itself. Since I reviewed the film a few months, and after watching the Blu-ray in action, my original thoughts still stand and have been re-printed in their entirety in the film review portion of this article. Brand new to this review are the video, audio, and special features rundown. Let’s see if you’re man enough to take on The Woman on Blu-ray! 

Film 

The Woman is the story of the last member of an extinct tribe that lived in the Northeast coast for years. The real world and the savage world clash when mild mannered Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) is on a hunting trip and unexpectedly runs into this woman and he ends up, for all intents and purposes, capturing her. He loads her up and takes her to his home where  he shows her off to the family. You’ve never seen a show and tell like this.

The interesting spin on The Woman is that she really isn’t the bad guy you are led believe. Yeah, she’s a feral woman who is caught in a time warp from the hunter-gatherer days. The Woman is more of a two-part component that revolves around the feral female while focusing on the lives of the Cleek family. Chris is a successful country lawyer, he has a wife, a son, and two daughters – the perfect nuclear family.

That’s actually where the real horror begins – at the house. Behind the facade of a mild mannered “average” American family Chris rules his family with an iron fist. He mentally and physically abuses the women of the family, while his son has developed some of his characteristics. Like Father, like Son.

It’s in this complete shift of focus that The Woman truly excels in its horror. Yes, there’s a feral woman who has been tied down, but the Cleek family is also “tied” down – the metaphors are pretty striking. Besides it being extremely violent, another thing that The Woman has been criticized for, is its misogynistic views toward women. I don’t really think it’s fair to say that the film is misogynistic – that just happens to be how one or two of the characters are written. Not only that, but have those critics even seen or know who Lucky McKee is? Other than Quentin Tarantino, he may be one of the most consistent feminist filmmakers out there. All of his films have strong female characters – The Woman is no different. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that the misogynistic tone carried throughout the film is a necessary one, because it makes you root for the feral woman. She’s just waiting to be unleashed – and it will be a bloodbath of epic proportions.

On a technical level, The Woman looks great and I’m glad they went old school with the special effects make-up design – it’s been a while since I’ve seen actual blood and guts be spilled. One thing that I did not care for was the use of music. During certain scenes and edits some lame indy rock tunes would start playing, and I just felt that it wasn’t necessary. I do understand what the director was doing with the music, but I just didn’t care about the selections used.

Pollyanna McIntosh is awesome as the woman, and Sean Bridgers as the piece of dog crap husband and father nail their parts down hard. I haven’t hated a villain like I hated Chris in a really long time. Pollyanna is pretty damn scary, too – she is not one to be messed with.

Video 

The Woman is presented in 1080p 1.78:1 ratio. The Woman was also shot with RED Camera system and sit shows. Color detail is amazing, sharpness levels never overpower, and edge enhancement is kept in check. Blacks are deep and inky and don’t crush. The woman is the star of the show and the detail captured on her character is quite amazing. She lives in the wilderness therefore you will be able to spot every instance of dirt, blood, grit and other little things like that caked on her face and body. The transfer captures it all. Flesh tones on the non-feral characters is also capture naturally. Tones look spot on and do not look flushed. The subject matter depicted in The Woman may be ugly, but this video transfer is pretty.

 

Audio

The Woman is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1. The Woman may be a low budget flick, but you wouldn’t know that with all the TLC it’s received on audio front. The Woman is a ferocious beast when it comes to the very scary and aggressive soundtrack. Dialogue is clean and clear and you will have no problem in keeping track with what’s going on. Ambient sounds do fill up the channels nicely in when on location in the woods or in the middle of the countryside. The Woman sounds great.

Special Features

The Woman is packed with a few special features like a making-of featurette which sheds some light on the production and is bookended by that famous outburst at Sundance last year where that guy got ejected from the screening due ti him disrupting the showing and calling the film without merit. Deleted scenes are explored as is a strange little short animated film called Mi Burro along with a music track by composer Sean Spillane.

• The Making of The Woman

• Deleted Scenes
• Short Film – Mi Burro

• Music Track Distracted by Sean Spillane

 

Final Thoughts

By now most of our readers should know how I roll when it comes to my horror film entertainment. I enjoyed The Woman very much and recommend it to the curios bunch out there. I will say that the film is very graphic, but if you dig blood and guts then you will probably dig the film even more on top of the message it conveys. The Woman is not for everyone, so be aware that if you’re not into horror in general, you will not like the film. If you’re a horror junkie like me then you will dig it.

Order The Woman on Blu-ray!