Somewhere on the East Coast of the United States live the Cleeks, an upper middle class family comprised of estate lawyer Chris (Sean Bridgers), wife Belle (Angela Bettis), eldest daughter Peggy (Lauren Ashley Clark), adolescent Brian (Zach Rand), and their youngest, Darlin' (Shyla Molhusen), the very picture of the model American family unit. But upon close examination, the family's existence is strictly regimented by seemingly chill control-freak Chris, who insists on utter perfection and unquestioned obedience from his household's members, and the house is more of a prison than home. All family members are clearly under the soft-voiced but iron-fisted rule of the father (though Darlin' gets away with more by virtue of her tender age), and a silent, tense air of fear makes up much of the daily atmosphere. Belle exhibits all the signs of the timid on-edge wife who has been cowed into submission and does not step out of "her place" lest she meet with correction, Brian is at that difficult age when roiling testosterone cannot reconcile itself with simple morality, and Peggy has become sullen and withdrawn, keeps her hair boyishly short, leaves her school classes for frequent trips to the ladies' room and lately sports a wardrobe of baggy, concealing clothes.
While out hunting one afternoon, Chris encounters a feral woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) living deep in the woods, and it is with this discovery that we begin to see just how severe his need to dominate everything is. Chris returns home, prepares the house's storage shed as a dungeon, and then returns to where he saw the feral woman. He captures her with a net, takes her back home, and shackles her in his shed. More animal than human, the woman comes to and is not having any of it, biting off Chris's ring finger when he attempts to show her who's boss. But that does not daunt Chris, who brings the family into the shed to introduce them to her as the new family project. The stated aim is to civilize her, no matter how long it takes, and while this process goes on, we learn more and more about the Cleeks and their very, very fucked-up world.
Picking up right where 2009's OFFSPRING left off, THE WOMAN opens with the titular character having survived the well-deserved massacre of the feral cannibal clan that she led, only to end up in the clutches of a "civilized" man and his family. Chris treats the unnamed woman like one of the dogs he keeps in another shed, not thinking of her as human at all but rather as a thing to exercise his masculine power over. He's a misogynist of a particularly casual and nasty stripe, and his son is learning from daddy's example. There's domestic abuse, torture, maulings, and sexual assault, and it all builds to a satisfying (if disturbing) denouement. I would go into more detail, but I have already said too much. If you enjoyed OFFSPRING, give this quality sequel a watch as soon as possible. It's the rare sequel that's not only as good as the first film, but also has the balls to go in a completely different direction from the initial installment instead of spoon-feeding the audience more of the same. Add to the roster for your next feminist film festival. (Yes, I'm serious.) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Oh, and stick around after the end credits...
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