REVIEW: ‘Woman of the Dead’ Is A Dark Revenge Thriller

Brunhilde Blum lives a quiet life as a mother of two, wife of a local cop, and operator of a morgue. But when a seemingly accidental hit-and-run takes her husband’s life, Blum quickly discovers far more dark secrets in her tiny little Austrian hometown than she ever imagined as she seeks out revenge on the ones who have shattered her life in Woman of the Dead.

Throughout this season’s six 45-minute episodes, the show’s protagonist goes on a journey into the proverbial “Heart of Darkness” to an extent I did not expect when I first cued up episode one. And while the antagonists are shown to be depraved, loathsome individuals that do what they want, no matter how despicable, the show’s biggest surprises come from the slow unrevealing of Blum’s history throughout the show.

Woman of the Dead does an excellent job of slowly peeling back the secrets of its protagonist in a way that is as disarming as it is surprising. From the opening moments of the series onward, the show repeatedly returns to a moment in Blum’s life that forever changed her. Revealing the moment and allowing the viewer to accept what it is, only to expand on it slowly, is a brilliant move by the series. This sort of expansion upon a critical backstory moment has been wonderfully utilized in some of my favorite mysteries and is used with equal skill here.

While the big moments deliver some shocks that stick with the viewer, a good portion of Woman of the Dead’s time is spent in the slow simmering tension that many mystery tales love to live in. The series isn’t a thrill a minute, but it’s never boring. As Blum searches for answers, the series does a great job of always keeping the feeling that danger is right around the corner for her and those close to her.

The acting here always lands on the strong side. While many of the performances don’t particularly stand out, none of the actings ever hurts any of the scenes either. Most importantly, Blum’s character(played by Anne Marie Mühe) can deliver on the determined and anguished lead skillfully. As her character is pushed further down the dark slope the plot takes her on, Mühe presents Blum just as fractured as one could ask.

The last element that requires commenting on is the show’s cinematography. Not only are shots excellently placed during the tensest moments of the series, but the production does a great job of skillfully excluding details and elements so that their eventual reveal is never even suspected.

I thought Woman of the Dead delivered an impressively tense and disturbing tale. While the content within may be more than some casual viewers will expect, the series uses its concepts and elements to great effect.

Woman of the Dead is streaming now on Netflix.