The Woman (2011)

I don't know how I got there or why I sat through the whole thing, but regardless, I just finished The Woman, directed by Lucky McKee.

IMDB.com summarizes it as:

When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy.

So, watching this movie, I have to wonder if McKee wasn't looking to give some sort of homage to Quintin Tarantino or something.  A lot of scenes that should have had the dramatic scales we're used to in this sort of movie were replaced with a sort of old rock theme.  (I'm not much into music that isn't the classical scales for movies, so bear with me on that.)  However, the style that the movie was filmed in was not conducive to the music.  I'm not a professional, but as a viewer, had the filming been sharper and not focused on that same look that more typical movies have (slightly grainy, supposed to look more realistic as opposed to sharp and bold colors), I think the music would have meshed better for me.

The acting of some actors left much to be desired, as did the character building.  When the beginning started to roll, I thought I stepped into some sort of freaky, artsy bullshit like Antichrist.

Positives, however.  There were some seriously creepy moments, and it was definitely gut-wrenchingly horrific in other parts.  I think the 'family secret' that's revealed at the end was rather clever.  Maybe I didn't pick up on the hints, but when the main character's wife told him that just what he had going on out with the dogs was enough to land him in prison, I was thinking animal abuse.

My brain can be quite literal.

I liked the actress who played The Woman.  That probably seems funny, since she didn't have a whole ton to do until the end, but I have a great respect for women who manage to put themselves into roles like that.  that sort of feral role, that fringes on looking possessed.  You know.  Of course, my friends and family know I'm a fan of Jennifer Carpenter in The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  As historically inaccurate as that movie was, that girl was amazing.

Overall, I... didn't completely like the movie, but I didn't hate it!  The camerawork was actually very good, and the makeup was good.  I liked the family's interactions with each other.  I suppose, besides the music gripe, I would have liked to see that hour and almost forty-four minutes used to build the family more.

And I guess I just am mostly baffled about seeing what I saw.  I'd love to see Rifftrax do a thing on it, if they haven't already.  I should go check it out.