Yard Work

Yard Work

David Koepp

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

This wasn’t the plan. Judge Herman Calvert, eighty-eight, never thought he’d outlive his beloved wife, Marie. Yet now he finds himself alone, a grieving widower, desperate for escape from the home they built together, where every turn brings a painful reminder of his late wife. So the judge retreats to his lake cabin in rural Wisconsin, a place where an old man can find peace and solitude. A place where nature can take its course. But something new has moved in. The judge’s property is crawling with Persicaria perfoliata, an invasive vine that has no earthly business in Wisconsin lake country. And this plant has teeth. Its barbs and tendrils have snaked deep into the ground, choking the life out of everything they touch, including the old oak tree he and Marie planted on their honeymoon. If the judge doesn’t do something, fast, the vine will take everything he has left. And it won’t stop there. He believes it’s after him. Yard Work is a new original story by acclaimed screenwriter, director, and novelist David Koepp. Koepp has written or co-written the screenplays for more than thirty films, including Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-man, Panic Room, War of the Worlds, Ghost Town, and Angels and Demons. His latest film, the Universal Pictures/Blumhouse thriller You Should Have Left starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried, is streaming now. His debut novel, Cold Storage, which The New York Times hailed as "pure, unadulterated entertainment" was published by Ecco in 2019 and is out in paperback this month. Length: 1 hours 24 minutes.

Publication Year: 2020


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  • Julielife
    Mar 09, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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  • FrankCobretti
    Apr 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    This is a terrific little horror story.

    If you own land in New England, you know how hateful it is to clear bramble. Bramble has long, sharp thorns. It hurts to even to look at. If you own trees in New England, you know how hateful creeper vines are. In suburban areas without a lot of deer to clear the underbrush, they can get a real grip on trees and, eventually, bring them down.

    Now, imagine the creeper vines had thorns like the bramble. And what if they were malicious? You've got yourself a story. As performed by Kevin Bacon, you've got something better: a story well told. I enjoyed the heck out of this spooky tale.

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