The Watchers is a new horror thriller directed and written by Ishana Shyamalan. This is her directorial debut. Furthermore, the film was produced by her father, director M. Night Shyamalan.
When young artist Mina (Dakota Fanning) gets stuck in an unknown forest with car trouble. Here she is told by a woman Madeline (Olwen Fouéré) to come to her quickly, to take shelter in her bunker.
Once in the bunker, she hears terrifying noises outside. These sounds come from beings called the Watchers, mysterious beings who emerge to observe the prisoners in the bunker. Anyone who is not in the bunker at night becomes victims of these Watchers. Mina and the other prisoners must now come up with a plan to escape the Watchers during the day, or end up stuck here for the rest of their lives, or become prey to the Watchers themselves.
Ishana Shyamalan, just like her father, knows how to build a story and its mystery. However, she now has to learn to make a film more her own. This film is reminiscent of many other films such as The Blair Witch Project, 10 Cloverfield Lane and even the TV series Wayward Pines, on which her father also contributed as director and producer. The story also has some unusual moments, which sometimes makes the film seem vague rather than scary. All the rules that the characters receive in the bunker do not always seem to have been reflected in such detail. Other details can also seem a bit strange and not always everything seems to have been given the same amount of thought. When you do get answers and further details at the end, it sometimes makes the film just more vague than it actually answers all your answers. As a result, the film can sometimes come across as a bit long-winded.
The Watcher largely remain mysterious in the film, because they are not shown, or only shown. This way your own imagination plays out when you hear the sounds of the Watchers before they are actually shown to you. In the darkness these creatures look believable, but when they come into the light, the quality and believability of the effects diminish slightly. Their shadow appearance may also be reminiscent of how her father tried to keep the aliens hidden in his films Signs.
The acting in the film works, but due to the vague, ill-considered aspects of the story, the actors sometimes come across as if they do not always know exactly what is expected of them or what they have to do. However, they sometimes seem a bit too calm to people who know that they are hiding and being observed by mysterious creatures. Some of the characters are also given too little background to make you as a viewer really care about them.
