THE WATCHERS movie poster | ©2024 New Line/Warner Bros.

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré, Oliver Finnegan, Alistair Brammer, John Lynch
Writer: Ishana Night Shyamalan, based on the novel by A.M. Shine
Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan
Distributor: New Line/Warner Bros.
Release Date: June 7, 2024

THE WATCHERS has its issues, like a desktop computer, supposedly from 2009, that looks like it’s from the early ‘90s, and an apartment that’s strangely empty when this isn’t a plot point.

However, the biggest matter facing THE WATCHERS has nothing to do with the filmmaking prowess of writer/director Ishana Night Shyamalan in her feature debut, adapting A.M. Shine’s novel for the screen. Rather, it’s that while literature has space for this, big studios seem to not know what to do with subject matter that is dark folklore, neither sparkling children’s fantasy nor full-on horror. (One notable exception is the TWILIGHT vampires and werewolves.)

So, THE WATCHERS is being marketed as straight horror. Horror fans who accept no substitutions may be irked, while viewers who may really be into this sort of thing are at the risk of missing out. As to the impact on the content of the film itself, we may never know, but it would have been enlightening to sit in on the development process.

We get sparse narration from Mina (Dakota Fanning). She tells us of an unmapped forest in the west of Ireland, where people disappear, never to be seen again. We see a young man, John (Alistair Brammer), trying unsuccessfully to escape the dense trees as he is pursued by something unseen but monstrous.

Then we’re with Mina, a young American artist who works as an assistant in a Galway, Ireland pet shop. She is avoiding the phone calls of her sister. Mina also likes to pretend to be someone else, going so far as to wear a wig, when she goes bar-hopping. When Mina’s boss tasks her with driving a rare parrot cross-country to a zoo in the North, she willingly agrees.

But Mina winds up in the forest, where her GPS fails, followed shortly thereafter by the expiration of all the electronics in her car. Carrying the parrot in his cage, Mina soon gets the feeling she’s not alone.

At nightfall, Mina sees an elderly woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), who offers her shelter in a strangely modernist, bunker-like structure, called “the Coop” by its inhabitants. Madeline currently shares this space with Ciara (Georgina Campbell), a hopeful young woman, and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan), a slightly dim young man.

An entire wall of the building is a spotlessly clean one-way mirror, through which “they” can watch. Apparently, “they” tolerate the humans within the building for the sake of “their” entertainment. So, one of the rules is never to face away from the mirror.

It seems impossible to reach the outskirts of the forest before dark, and once night falls, “they” emerge from huge burrows within the woods. So, the other rules include being inside by dark, not opening the door after dark, and never trying to explore the burrows.

What’s going on here overall is going to occur to viewers familiar with the folklore in question well ahead of the onscreen explanation; again, horror fans who haven’t watched/read up on this may just be disappointed. The need to hew to a PG-13 rating doesn’t help on this front.

There are a few other elements that require major suspension of disbelief – the aforementioned computer and apartment, a delicate bird who can withstand being hauled around in the cold without specialized care – but there’s also something cool going on here.

Shyamalan makes us want to go wandering around in the woods of Ireland. She also makes these woods look like they could plausibly contain creatures of myth. What the creatures want and how they behave is consistent with plenty of existing lore, and “the Coop” has a subtly striking look that combines modernity and something older and simpler.

While it wasn’t absolutely necessary for us to appreciate the main character, the screenplay does a nice job of paralleling Mina’s past with her current crisis. Fanning gives a committed performance. Fouéré is impressive as the commanding Madeline, and Irish cinema stalwart John Lynch appears as a key figure in the proceedings.

THE WATCHERS is not for everyone, and we can imagine that there might be a better way to tell the tale. Still, it has moments of real wonder, and it’s gratifying to see someone tackle a story like this at all with some success.

Related: Movie Review: IN A VIOLENT NATURE
Related: Movie Review: WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Related: Movie Review: THE HANGMAN
Related: Movie Review: FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA
Related: Movie Review: WE GO ON
Related: Movie Review: IF
Related: Movie Review: YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER
Related: Movie Review: NIGHTWATCH: DEMONS ARE FOREVER (NATTEVAGTEN: DÆMONER GÅR I ARV)
Related: Movie Review: KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Related: Movie Review: THE COFFEE TABLE (LA MESITA DEL COMEDOR)
Related: Movie Review: FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2
Related: Movie Review: THE FALL GUY
Related: Movie Review: SOMETHING IN THE WATER
Related: Movie Review: I SAW THE TV GLOW
Related: Movie Review: THE THREE MUSKETEERS – PART II: MILADY
Related: Movie Review: BOY KILLS WORLD
Related: Movie Review: BREATHE
Related: Movie Review: GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: THE WATCHERS

Related Posts: