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The Woman in Cabin 10

Ralph Revelar Sarza

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760424361597The Woman in Cabin 10.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">A scene from &#x27;The Woman in Cabin 10.&#x27; <em>Netflix</em></span></span></span>Watching a movie at home is a completely different headspace from sitting in a theater. In cinemas, the film owns you for its entire runtime. At home, you can pause, wander off, or, if you’re chaotic, let it play while you scroll through your phone. I’d never dare -- some films deserve better -- but that freedom changes how we watch.</div><p>Netflix’s “The Woman in Cabin 10” understands this better than most, though not always in a good way. The film feels made for the stop-and-start rhythm of home viewing, and that shapes the kind of tension it offers. Its suspense rises in small ripples instead of waves, never heavy enough to hold your focus for long. It never builds the kind of tension that makes you afraid to pause, which says as much about the film as it does about how we watch now.</p><p>Set almost entirely aboard a luxury yacht, “The Woman in Cabin 10” follows travel journalist Lo Blacklock, played by Keira Knightley, who joins an exclusive press trip to cover the ship’s maiden voyage. What begins as a glamorous escape turns unsettling when Lo believes she sees a woman being thrown overboard from the neighboring cabin. The problem is that everyone on the guest list is accounted for. As the ship sails further from land, Lo starts to question what she saw and whether anyone will believe her.</p><p>The film touches on the idea of gaslighting and how women’s fears are often dismissed as hysteria, but it never commits to that angle. It has the setup for a sharp look at isolation and disbelief, yet it stays cautious. Lo is not delusional enough for mystery or sure enough for clarity, leaving the story caught in between. For viewers who have not read the book, that indecision turns what should be psychological tension into a straightforward puzzle. </p><p>That is also why “The Woman in Cabin 10” probably works better on Netflix than it would in theaters. Its hesitations and softened edges fit the way we now watch at home. It is easy to step in and out of Lo’s paranoia, to pause when the repetition drags, then return for the next reveal. What might feel thin in a cinema becomes decent suspense on a couch. </p><p>The cast is too strong for the material, and that’s part of the film’s strange charm. Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, and Hannah Waddingham have a presence that pulls your attention even when the script loses direction. Their talents aren’t wasted so much as repurposed. They distract you just enough to forgive the film’s flaws. When the story falters, they fill the gaps with charisma and conviction, making the film’s smaller missteps easier to overlook. </p><p>The movie is gripping enough to make you care about how it ends, but it would have been more satisfying if, while waiting for the mystery to unfold, you also cared about the people trapped in it. The 95-minute runtime helps the pacing but limits the depth. The passengers on the yacht seem to have stories worth hearing, yet the film barely gives them space. A few more minutes could have made them feel alive instead of decorative. </p><p>The resolution of the mystery in “The Woman in Cabin 10” is forensic rather than emotional. It leaves you realizing that the film’s real puzzle isn’t what happened on the yacht but why it leaves you so unaffected after. Maybe that’s the cost of stories built to finish neatly rather than stay with you. </p><div><br/></div><div><em>Ralph Revelar Sarza is an internationally published film critic. This review was originally published on the author’s website, “<a href="https://www.walphs.com/2025/10/the-woman-in-cabin-10-netflix-review.html">WALPHS.com</a>.”</em></div>

<p>Streaming turns 'The Woman in Cabin 10' into something moodier and more intimate than the typical whodunit.</p>

Streaming turns 'The Woman in Cabin 10' into something moodier and more intimate than the typical whodunit.

Netflix review: ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ benefits from the kind of headspace only streaming allows

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Netflix review: ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ benefits from the kind of headspace only streaming allows

Ralph Revelar Sarza

Published Oct 14, 2025 02:58 PM PHT

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The Woman in Cabin 10

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