As fans of cinema and TV we do have a certain level of tolerance for the ridiculousness that sometimes comes with our favourite form of escapism. We like to poke holes in the logic of science-fiction, roll our eyes at the bad guy’s terrible aim in action movies and throw our hands up in exasperation at the decisions made in horror flicks. These little gripes, pet peeves and clichés have spawned a subgenre of comedy that has been growing steadily over the last few decades – parodies.  

Enter Netflix’s latest project, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window; an eight-part miniseries that pokes fun at a host of female-led psychological thrillers including The Girl on the Train (Emily Blunt), The Invisible Man (Elisabeth Moss) and their own poorly received The Woman in the Window starring Amy Adams.  

Kristen Bell takes the lead as Anna, a depressed painter with a fear of the rain, whose marriage fell apart after her daughter died in a horrific ‘Take Your Daughter To Work Day’ incident involving a cannibalistic serial killer. Yep, wrap your noggin around that one for a second… 

Three years later, Anna spends her days drinking copious amounts of red wine, staring wistfully out the window and going through each day in something of a haze. The arrival of handsome new neighbour Neil, a recently widowed father to nine-year old Emma, brings her out of her wine-filled stupor. But one night, Anna witnesses – or she thinks she sees – the murder of Neil’s flight attendant girlfriend Lisa. Panicking, Anna rushes out to help her but gets caught in a rainstorm and collapses in terror in the middle of the street. 

THE WRITING TAKES ITSELF A LITTLE TOO SERIOUSLY, COMING PERILOUSLY CLOSE TO IMITATING THAT WHICH IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE RIDICULING

The decision to cast Kristen Bell in the lead role was a small spark of genius. Anyone who has seen The Good Place will know Bell’s comedic chops whereas fans of Veronica Mars will enjoy seeing Bell revisit her detective roots. Unfortunately, the writing is too serious for out and out absurd comedy yet too light-hearted for a serious investigative thriller leaving Bell to deliver a performance that is balancing on a tightrope – or perhaps more fittingly, a knife’s edge.  

The next day, Neil tells Anna that what she saw wasn’t real and Lisa is actually on a plane to Seattle, showing text conversations to prove it. Convinced she saw what she said she saw; Anna turns detective and follows clues to solve the mystery but how much of it is real and how much is in Anna’s self-confessed over-active imagination? 

Now I don’t know about you but when I think of parodies I think of the likes of Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie, perhaps I’m showing my age a little too much here but you know what I mean, ridiculously over-the-top films that takes a concept and flog it until the absurdity is comedic in a ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of way. Given the films that influenced this series, writers Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf and Rachel Ramras had plenty that they could have worked with but The Woman in the House… takes itself a little more seriously, its approach is a lot more subtle which unfortunately means that the jokes, which are a little too few and far between, wind up falling flat and the series comes perilously close the imitating that which it is meant to be ridiculing. 

Some will love the silliness of it topped off by a rather ludicrous ending, others will enjoy the darker tones of an unfurling mystery and there will be some that will just appreciate the opportunity to chill out and switch off from the world for a moment but with only eight episodes, running at about 25 minutes each, The Woman in the House… is proper popcorn material that won’t take up too much of your time. 

 Whether or not it is a good use of your time however, will remain to be seen… 

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is now available to stream on Netlfix.