The Reel Review
A pet store employee trying to deliver a bird finds herself trapped in a concrete bunker with three strangers in a remote forest in Ireland. Each night, strange creatures emerge from underground to watch them through a giant window. Dakota Fanning stars in this horror/mystery adaptation of A.M. Shine’s 2022 novel, from Ishana Shyamalan, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter.
Okay so the premise is murky, with an intentionally confusing story that doesn’t really become clear until very late in the film, and even then, still leaves way too many unanswered questions. There’s lots of standing around and looking terrified but not much action. Olwen Fouéré (All You Need is Death, The Northman) steals the show as the spooky and mysterious Madeline to Fanning’s surprisingly resourceful Mina.
The younger Shyamalan is clearly more focused on creating a creepy vibe than telling a coherent or even interesting storytelling. The tie-in of Mina’s trauma over her mother’s death 15 years prior is a big stretch. And the big folkloric reveal in the film’s final minutes is more silly than scary. The Watchers is a very mediocre movie, but even so, still a hair better than her father’s most recent films.
REEL FACTS
• The title was changed to The Watched in the UK and Ireland, to avoid confusion with the Netflix series The Watcher.
• The actresses playing the young sisters Mina and Lucy are played by real life sisters.
• The Watchers was filmed in the Irish counties of Dublin, Wicklow and Galway.
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