The Woman appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Though apparently shot 2K, this nonetheless became a largely solid Dolby Vision presentation.
Overall sharpness worked fine. Some slightly soft shots appeared and I couldn’t claim definition tended to seem great, but the majority of the film boasted fairly appealing delineation.
I saw no issues with jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws failed to mar the proceedings.
Colors opted for a fairly subdued sense of teal and amber. While less than imaginative, the disc reproduced the hues appropriately, and HDR gave them a little kick.
Blacks seemed deep and dense, while low-light shots became appropriately depicted. HDR added a bit of impact to whites and contrast. This wound up as a mostly positive image.
Though more than adequate, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack proved less satisfying, mainly due to a somewhat clumsy soundscape. While the mix managed to use the five channels in an active manner, it didn’t blend them especially well.
This meant a soundfield that tended to come across as awkward and artificial. Although the speakers packed a lot of material, they remained a bit disjointed and without smooth involvement.
Audio quality worked fine, with speech that felt fairly natural despite some awkward dubbing at times. Music came across as lively and full.
As noted, effects could fail to mesh with thee surroundings well, and part of that stemmed from stems that just didn’t come across as especially organic. Still, those elements were dynamic and lacked distortion. The audio came with ups and downs to end up as a “C+”.
As we shift to extras, we find four separate audio commentaries. The first comes from writer/director Lucky McKee, as he provides a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story and characters, sets and locations, music and audio, cast and performances, costumes, various effects, and related topics.
That stands as a good selection of topics, and McKee’s chat starts very well. However, he runs out of steam as he goes.
This doesn’t mean the last two-thirds of the track flop, as McKee still manages to provide some useful notes. Nonetheless, he struggles to muster content along the way, so this ends up as an erratic piece.
The second commentary involves McKee, editor Zach Passero, sound designer Andrew Smetek and composer Sean Spillane. All four sit together for a running, screen-specific take on how they came to the project, editing, audio and music, various experiences during the shoot and reactions to the film.
Some of this repeats from McKee’s solo commentary, but the involvement of the other three makes this a more technical chat. Though the discussion tends to digress a little too often, it nonetheless provides a decent amount of information.
For the third commentary, we hear from actor Polly McIntosh. During her running, screen-specific chat, she covers her role and performance, aspects of the shoot, and thoughts about the movie.
At times we get some good insights from McIntosh, but she too often just narrates the movie or talks about the sequel she wrote/directed. This leads to a spotty track.
Finally, we get a commentary from film critic Scott Weinberg. He delivers a running, screen-specific view of story/characters/themes as well as his thoughts about the movie.
A good commentary from a critic should open up real insights and give us provocative ways to look at the project. Weinberg doesn’t do that.
Really more of an appreciation than a thorough take on Woman, Weinberg often tells us how much he likes the flick but we don’t get a lot of depth to the discussion. He also tends to meander and stray from various topics too much, so don’t expect a lot from this fan commentary.
A mix of video programs follow. Dad on the Wall runs one hour, 15 minutes, 13 seconds.
We get “fly on the wall” footage shot by McKee’s father Mike – ergo the title. It follows all 24 days of the production in order and turns into an excellent glimpse of the shoot.
Meet Peggy Cleek goes for 19 minutes, 59 seconds. It offers a 2020 interview with actor Lauren Ashley Carter.
She examines how she got her role as well as how the film’s music impacted her performance, story/characters, and other aspects of her experience. Carter brings some good notes.
With Malam Domesticam, we find a circa 2011 featurette. It spans 25 minutes, 29 seconds and brings notes from McKee, McIntosh, Spillane, Smetek, Passero, production designer Krista Gall, director of photography Alex Vendler, co-writer Jack Ketchum, costume designer Michael Bevins, producer Andrew van den Houten, and actors Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis, and Zach Rand.
“Malam” examines sets and locations, photography, story/characters, cast and performances, costumes and makeup, audio and music, and festival appearances. “Malam” acts as a good complement to the other features.
Create for the Chiller cable channel, six featurettes pop up under the banner of Meet the Makers. These occupy a total of six minutes, 51 seconds and involve Lucky McKee,
Given that each segment lasts only a little more than a minute, don’t expect substance here. The “Makers” clips just offer promotional fluff.
Recorded at Film4 Frightfest 2011 in London, American Horror goes for 44 minutes, 46 seconds. It presents a live panel that features Lucky McKee as well as fellow filmmakers Andrew van den Houten, Larry Fessenden, Adam Green, Joe Lynch and Ti West.
They discuss the then-current state of horror movies. Some insights emerge, but this mostly feels like a combination of self-praise as well as whining.
Four Deleted Scenes take up a total of five minutes, 55 seconds. These offer a bit more exposition related to the Cleek family as well the private life of Peggy’s teacher. None of them add much of value.
Made by Zach Passero, Mi Burro offers a 2011 animated short. It runs six minutes, 41 seconds.
We see a young boy and his relationship with his talking donkey. It takes some perverse twists to deliver mild amusement.
A music promo called “Distracted” spans five minutes, three seconds. It simply plays a song from composer Sean Spillane over movie stills and becomes a forgettable addition.
Along with the movie’s trailer, we conclude with an Image Gallery that shows 25 elements. It mixes film shots and views behind the scenes to become a mediocre collection.
Despite an intriguing presence, The Woman doesn’t click on a consistent basis. It occasionally brings some punch but too much of the film feels clumsy and heavy-handed. The 4K UHD comes with generally good picture, mediocre audio and a slew of bonus materials. This turns into a solid release for an erratic movie.
Note that this 4K UHD version of The Woman comes as part of a two-film package. It also includes a 4K rendition of 2009’s Offspring.
