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Film: The Watchers
Year: 2024
Director: Ishana Shyamalan
Writer: Ishana Shyamalan
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell and Olwen Fouéré
Review:
This was a movie that I believe went onto my radar when looking at Georgina Campbell from her earlier film Barbarian. As this came closer to coming out, I saw part of a trailer at the theater. What caught my attention was that this was written and directed by Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night. It stars Dakota Fanning and Olwen Fouéré as well. I saw this opening night at the theater.
Synopsis: a young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland. After finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
We start this off with John (Alistair Brammer) as he’s running through the woods. He checks his watch when he comes to a marker saying, ‘Point of No Return’. It also has a number under it. He runs past, but gets frustrated when despite going forward, he somehow doubled back to that marker. He tries to climb a tree and ends up falling. There’s something in the woods after him.
It then shifts over to Mina (Dakota Fanning). She works at a pet shop. We see that she is a talented artist and she is also troubled. We get more of that as we go on. She is ignoring calls from her sister. She is asked by her boss to take a rare bird to a zoo. It is a day’s drive and he thinks that she needs time away, to which she agrees.
She runs into an issue though when she is driving through the thick woods from the synopsis. Her car dies suddenly. She sees a marker like the one that John saw. She believes that someone must live close by. She takes the bird and seeks their help. When she gets too far from her car, it disappears. That’s when she meets Madeline (Fouéré). She tells her to follow, but she must hurry. There’s something in the woods after her.
They make it to a building. It looks to be made of concrete. One side has a mirror. This is a one-way glass where something outside can see in. Staying there with Madeline is Ciara (Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). Ciara is married to John and she is waiting for him to come back.
This group has been living here for a stretch. There is something different about these woods. It prevents them from leaving. There is also something that watches them through the window. They must stand in front of it each night or it upsets whatever watches them. There are rules here. Do not go outside after dark, stay to the light and avoid these large holes that lead to tunnels underneath the ground. Something to include here, Mina has a troubled past that she won’t forgive herself for. Her defiant nature might be what they need to get free of their curse. It also could spell their doom.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll then start is that I didn’t realize until the end that this is a based off a book. I’m intrigued to check that out, because there seems to be rich mythology here. To build on that, I guessed what the creature was going to be the moment I saw the giant holes. I’ll be cryptic here to not spoil it, but it is something that is being used more lately in cinema. I do like aspects that are built in to build atmosphere and tension.
Now that I have those opening thoughts there, let me delve more into this one. Since I haven’t read the source material, I’m not sure how much of this is from the book and how much is something that Shyamalan did. What is intriguing is that this feels in the same vein as something her father would do. There’s a fairy tale feel to what we’re getting here. It feels like it is still in our world. I got vibes of something like The Village in that, we have this group that is forced to live in isolation while the outside world moves like normal. Trapping our characters in this structure in the woods is good. How big this forest is adding to the isolation. This builds up a good atmosphere. Then adding in the supernatural helps there as well.
Another thing that it feels like it is borrowed from other Shyamalan films is the broken lead. We learn that Mina was ornery as a child. This led to a tragedy with their mother. She still harbors that guilt. She isolates herself from her sister who wants her to let it go and move on. That would be something difficult to do, but that healing needs to happen. Bringing back up mythology, it is said in the beginning that this forest calls to people who are broken so I like that. It almost seems like fate is guiding her to come here and trapping her. Fanning’s performance does well in bringing the character to life. It is subdued. I think what she did was good, but it’s not my favorite thing I’ve seen her in. She almost seems to be sleepwalking through the role. I don’t know if I can fault her though as that seems to be by design.
Let me then complete my thoughts on the mythology. I love that Madeline knows about this place. She even knows more than she is letting on. This causes Daniel to attack her at one point. There is also Kilmartin (John Lynch), who is a professor. He built this place. What is great there is that it builds on what we know in the start. The deeper our characters figure this out, the more nefarious things are. What I’ll say is that there’s a reveal here that I guessed the moment another room is found. Even though I did, I like that from there, it starts to become characters not trusting each other. This plays into what our ‘watchers’ are. It also makes sense as to why they come and that this one-way mirror was used. It makes it even more terrifying.
Since I’ve already brought up my thoughts on Fanning’s performance, let me delve into the supporting cast. Campbell was good in her limited role. She is there to almost entice Daniel now that John is missing since the younger man has a crush on her. Ciara also plays in when it seems that John is still alive. Fouéré was good in her role. She comes off as wicked the deeper we go into learning the truth here. Finnegan was fine in his role. They bring up his back-story, but I don’t know if it amounts to much unfortunately. I like Lynch’s role to help fill in more history. Brammer works as a catalyst. I also would say that Siobhan Hewlett, Hannah and Emily Dargan. They help develop Mina and her story which works. I’d say that for the most part, the acting fits what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography and framing were good. How they set up these woods, that isolated feel and with how distorting being that deep can be. I’d even say that the look of the creatures were good. They keep them mostly to the shadows, which is a strong move. When we do see them, they’re done with CGI. I don’t think it looks great. We also don’t get a great look at them so it works. Like I’ve said, I thought that this built a good atmosphere. Being trapped in the woods and something preventing you from escaping. There seems to be magic or a curse trapping them. Then you have monsters which is terrifying. The sound design works there, hearing the creatures scream and then attacking the structure inside. This was one of the stronger aspects for sure.
In conclusion, I thought that this was a fine movie. There are good aspects to it. The mythology that this story builds on being one. Another is trapping our group of characters deep in the forest. Where it then goes as they try to escape was fine. The problem is that I feel there is more to this than what we get and it was just missing something to fully come together for me. I did find my interest waning a bit. Fanning was fine as the lead. I personally thought that she was asked to play the character this way and the supporting cast was a bit stronger. This is made well-enough with the cinematography, framing and sound design leading the way. What I’ll say is that I think this would be a good gateway horror film for sure. I do think it is still worth a watch as well.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10