If you have seen the movie Offspring, which I have also reviewed as a Horror Bite, you might be wondering if The Woman is more than just a spiritual sequel. Both movies are written by horror author Jack Ketchum and both feature actress Pollyanna McIntosh as the cannibal woman. I haven't read Ketchum's cannibal series that lead to these movies, but I am pretty sure this happens after Offspring. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of Offspring, it was a bit too much about shocking for the sake of shocking, which has its merits, but just didn't work for me.
The Woman is about, well The Woman, who never gets a name as she tries to deal with living alone in the woods for the first time. I think she befriends, and or murders a wolf, and there is a baby...but this may all be a dream. Anyways she is captured by a piece of shit of a human being, who beats his wife, thinks his youngest daughter is retarded, his words not mine, and rapes his eldest one. Oh, he is also teaching his son to be a member of rapist society as well, so your typical cream of the crop guy here. Chris, the terrible father from above, finds and captures the woman when he is off on a hunting trip. He brings her home and chains her up in his basement with the idea that he is going to teach her to be a civilized lady. Which, if we are being honest, mostly includes making sure she won't bite his dick off when he has sex with her. We then spend the majority of the movie reiterating that Chris is awful, and his wife and daughters are in constant danger. It sets quite a despicable tone of family-based horror. It's a hard movie to watch at times, and The Woman of the title gets a bit relegated to the background until the finale.
This movie apparently saw a bit of controversy when shown in festivals, as there were apparent walkouts or at least one walkout due to the overwhelming misogyny in the film. I am not one who usually jumps into the politics of the day, but I feel the want to address how far they go with Chris as a character. I have witnessed many horror films in my time, and to be honest, he is one most despicable villains I have ever seen. He really does make the movie harder to watch, which of course, is on purpose. You cringe every time he talks and fear for his wife and daughters every time he calls them over or enters the room. He is the worst of the worst, but sometimes to the detriment of the movie itself.
In the same sense, I guess that is what makes The Woman a successful film, even though it is a hard movie to like. It is not a movie trying to be liked and rewatched. I don't think it wants to go on the shelf with your favorite films. It wants to make you cringe and feel unwell. It wants to stick in your craw on purpose. For that idea, it succeeds in bunches. I am not sure I would recommend this film to most people. It would be an easy movie to dislike just because it is not an easy movie to sit through. Still, in a Grindhouse spiritual way, it set out to shock and offend and was very successful at it, so for that, I do think it deserves praise. But for those not looking to be shocked or appalled, maybe give this one a miss.