The Watchers Movie Review: Ishana Shyamalan Convinces with an Inspired and Fascinating Horror

Cast: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Olwen Fouéré

Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan

Where We Watched: In Press Preview

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)

You can’t see them. But they can see you. So goes the disturbing slogan of The Watchers, the horror film that marks the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, the 25-year-old daughter of M. Night Shyamalan (here working as a producer) who wrote and adapted for the big screen the novel of the same name by AM Shine published in 2021. Forests have always been among the most popular places to set a horror film, for example, classics of the genre such as The Blair Witch Project, cult films such as The VVitch, or works with a more “exotic” tone such as The Forest. These films draw heavily from two folkloristic traditions in particular, the American one (from the melting pot of cultures that founded it) and the Japanese one. The film directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of the “master” of horror M. Night Shyamalan) and inspired by the novel by AM Shine is instead inspired by Irish folklore, basing the narrative around the creatures that populate the infinite forests of the Island of Emerald.

If on the one hand The Watchers starts from a particularly interesting premise – beings who observe for unknown reasons a group of survivors inside a refuge, in the center of a cursed forest – the development and everything that revolves around the Irish myth is a little too lacking and sketchy. As if an external “observer” tried to enclose in a film the essence of the beliefs, of the cultural background of a country that, in reality, he does not know. Once the film is finished you will realize how consistent this sensation is with the content of the film, the central element of which are beings who try to imitate us in every way, but never really succeed. Something in them always remains wrong, out of place, in the same way in Ishana Night Shyamalan’s film there is no extra effort to truly capture the spirit of the cultural context, of the traditions, that it is trying to tell.

The Watchers Movie Review: Story Plot

The story revolves around the character of Mia, a young woman marked by a trauma that she cannot overcome: the death of her mother when she was just a child. An event that marked her to the point of forcing her to move away from her family (and her twin sister) and take refuge in a foreign country, Ireland (or at least so the viewer deduces, given her American accent, but it is not revealed never mentioned its origins). In Galway Mia gets by by working in a small pet shop and going out now and then in the evening, each time inventing new identities with which to present herself. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her boss asks her to bring a rare parrot to a zoo near Belfast: Mia sets off on a journey, but her emotional state is more unstable than ever, as the anniversary of her mother’s death has just passed. A message from her twin then sends her completely into confusion, so much so that she doesn’t notice when the landscape around her changes completely, and she finds herself in the center of a forest, with her car broken down and with no possibility of turning back.

There is no longer even a way out, the infinite rows of trees are transformed into a labyrinth in which Mia (and Darwin, the parrot) find themselves prisoners. A white-haired woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), comes to their aid and accompanies her to a shelter before night falls, where two other people, Daniel and Ciara (Georgina Campbell and Oliver Finnegan) are waiting for her). The strange group immediately explains to Mia the gravity of the situation: something is keeping them prisoner, observing them, during the night, and there is no way to escape from the forest. The rules are clear, never open the door at night, never approach the large craters in the ground (they are the entrance to the “dens” of the creatures) and never turn your back to the window overlooking the woods, because the inhabitants of the refuge must always remain in plain sight. It won’t be easy for Mia to accept imprisonment, and soon she will look for a way to escape by breaking the rules imposed on her: the consequences for her and her companions will be the most dramatic.

The Watchers Movie Review and analysis

The Watchers is a film with two distinct souls, two faces that lie to each other throughout the entire duration of the story. All the suspense of the feature film is built around these “Observers”, these mysterious, greedy, and merciless creatures who persist in observing those who get lost in the meanders of the forest, respecting some precise rules in a process unknown to both the protagonists and the spectators. In general ignorance towards a place that eschews any basic logic, we find the individual experiences of the protagonists at play. Nora and the others with her are stuck in a sort of sadistic game, trapped in a situation that is difficult to define, supported only and exclusively by the terror of losing one’s life at any moment. Thus, in the indefinite danger, and above all in the darkest impotence and the impossibility of reacting, the pieces of a context that are immediately both horrifying and curiously sociological move.

Comparisons with any reality show are almost automatic, fueled by certain direct elements within the narrative, and by reflections on humanity and humanity precisely in this sense. Not knowing what could happen from one moment to the next, and the impossibility of living in freedom will push the situation towards a limit that is both predictable and interesting to analyze, especially in how it is outlined by the director herself, who here has taken He also takes care of the screenplay. Why would creatures observe trapped humans? Who or what are these creatures really? What interests do they have in observation and how important is such a process for them? Who are the other people in the cage with Nora? Who created that place where everything is happening? These and many others are the nagging questions at the base of The Watchers but… fortunately, the film does not consume itself and expresses itself only in this sense.

As mentioned before, The Watchers has two faces and two souls that move in parallel, fueling a narrative and conceptual coherence linked both to our current events and to a series of ideas and finds connected to the best-known local folklore. From this, one of the most interesting and unexpected sides of the story develops, which becomes a journey of study and in-depth analysis also in emotional terms. While working a certain type of terror easily recognizable by horror fans, The Watchers quickly finds its own way, fueling an underlying mystery that takes and fascinates beyond the general horror and pathos itself. Nora’s journey is, therefore, a fundamental piece in understanding what is happening on the big screen, thanks to careful writing in best defining the profound reasons for a protagonist who is vague and difficult to understand at the beginning. Chasing the truth, we move among the shadows of an experience with absolutely fascinating roots and strong references to Germanic mythology and beyond.

In the union between the echoes of both literary and cinematographic antiquity, a sort of black fairy tale with dark reverberations develops. Strengthened by some direct symbolism, The Watchers exploits the references even on a more formal level, rendering some shots that establish precise imagery, while at the same time defining the deeper reasons. Ishana Night Shyamalan’s camera is always steady and attentive to what the individual characters feel, impressing on the big screen both the personal emotions of each one and the terrors that they find themselves having to face for reasons yet to be discovered. As you can deduce from the hints to the plot we have given you, the premises from which The Watchers starts are quite interesting. Furthermore, we were fascinated by a particularly intriguing trailer that alluded to a story full of mystery and terror. Unfortunately, however, the film is particularly lacking in both of these elements.

Let’s start with the mystery, from the nature of the creatures that observe the four unfortunate protagonists during long night vigils. Their identity is alluded to almost immediately and fully discovered when the ending is still far away. Even their motivations – albeit a little incomplete – are soon clear, and all the aura of charm that permeated the story quickly wanes. The beauty of horror films that play with folklore lies in their ability to keep the viewer’s interest high with secrets and enigmas of a nebulous nature, which drag the viewer into worlds made of legends, of ancient religions, partly incomprehensible to our “mind”. modern”. Let’s then move on to the second “lack” of The Watchers, namely the chills: Ishana Night Shyamalan is a horror film that isn’t scary. The atmosphere initially is the right one to evoke the protagonist’s confusion, the sense of oppressive imprisonment, the tension of what moves in the darkness of the forest, all sensations that prepare for the fear that will come, but which in this case never arrives.

In our opinion, much better use could have been made of the fact that the beings of the forest can take on the appearance of whoever they wish, more emphasis could have been placed on how disturbing it can be to be called by the voices of loved ones who we know are dead, or from one’s voice, perhaps build the doubt that someone in the group may have been replaced (at “The Thing”, but without aliens) and has sinister intentions short, what we want to say is that the ideas to work on, on which to develop a good horror ending were there, but the result is a strange hybrid with the fantasy genre that struggles to involve, especially those who are preparing to watch – as we must admit we did – with a certain type of expectation. If you are looking for armchair jumps, nightmarish creatures, and terrifying situations that remain imprinted even after the credits roll, unfortunately, this is not the film for you.

To redeem the situation a little, the good interpretation of the protagonist, Dakota Fanning. Although she cannot do much given the script she has to work with – even the drama of her mother’s death and her sister’s estrangement is not developed in the best way – the actress manages to infuse Mia with a certain depth emotional, finding the right tone with which to bring it to life on the screen. The other characters, who are less central, are explored even less – why were John and Ciara in the forest, and young David? We will never find out – unfortunately, they remain excessively in the background and do not involve the viewer in their stories (when in a horror film the viewer does not care if none of the secondary characters dies or survives, we have a problem). The Watchers is therefore in our opinion a wasted opportunity, good premises from which the right substance was not drawn. It’s a shame that this was precisely the debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, who nevertheless shows a certain level of ability in the director’s cabin: the hope is that with greater experience behind her, and with a different screenplay from which to start, in the future she can create something truly memorable.

The Watchers Movie Review: The Last Words

Despite an engaging cinematic experience, The Watchers works and knows how to leave its mark, despite using models and elements that are not exactly original. Ishana Night Shyamalan’s film debut works and gives us hope, perhaps anticipating the future of an artist who, in this case, uses the images and echoes of myth to create something interesting. All while playing with some fascinating ideas in their use and narrative contextualization. The Watchers lacks two particularly important elements: mystery and thrillers. Dakota Fanning’s performance is good but otherwise, Ishana Night Shyamalan’s film is a rather lacking directorial debut. A film that aims at entertainment, directed and simplified by various “explanations”, functional to the script and functional to the staging. A good cast and then the evocative setting do the rest, at least until a perhaps excessive and unfocused ending.

The Watchers Movie Review: Ishana Shyamalan Convinces with an Inspired and Fascinating Horror - Filmyhype

Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan

Date Created: 2024-06-06 15:54

Editor's Rating:
3.5

Pros

• The writing of the story and the characterization of the protagonist.
• The construction of some shots and the direction in general.
• Some very interesting ideas and the way they have been used.
• The premises are particular and interesting
• Dakota Fanning's performance is good

Cons

• The underlying horror isn't too original.
• The length of the film, perhaps excessive.
• The mystery behind the creatures is revealed too soon
• The secondary characters are not well explored
• It's a horror movie that isn't scary