The Watchers, one of the year’s greatest disappointments in the horror genre, is heading to Max and will start streaming next week on August 30. The film, directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, had a short run in theaters after Warner Bros. went for a wide theatrical release, but it ultimately flopped after barely crossing the $33 million barrier on a $30 million budget.
The film follows Mina (Dakota Fanning), a young American woman living in Ireland and struggling to overcome the traumatic death of her mother. Unable to cope more than a decade after the tragic incident, Mina is estranged from her twin sister. While running an errand for her boss, Mina’s car breaks down in the middle of the road, and she has no choice but to enter the woods, where she becomes lost.
What follows is Mina’s encounter with three mysterious strangers who talk about the Watchers, ghostly creatures that live in the forest and which they must “perform” for every night. Mina joins the group in a bunker-like building with a huge two-way mirror that lets the Watchers see them. Eventually, Mina grows tired and begins asking questions, and she discovers the truth about the entities known as the Watchers.
The Watchers
- Release Date
- June 7, 2024
- Director
- Ishana Shyamalan
Shyamalan also wrote The Watchers, based on the 2021 novel of the same name by A. M. Shine. The film boasts a great cast, including Fanning, Olwen Fouéré, Georgina Campbell, and Oliver Finnegan. It was produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who supports his daughter’s directorial debut – a recent case of Hollywood nepotism that raised some eyebrows, especially when the film didn’t exactly perform well at the box office.
The Watchers Is a Good Example of Style Over Substance in Horror
What’s curious is that the film isn’t downright terrible. There are plenty of good things about it: the score by Abel Korzeniowski is haunting, the cinematography is one of the best in recent horror, and the performances are actually good enough. However, the final result is a forgettable horror experience that demonstrates the director’s lack of storytelling techniques that are necessary to make a film feel anything but generic. What should be a scary “cabin in the woods” experience tries too hard to be an existential horror movie. Viewers will get tired early on due to the lack of answers and resolution.
It’s impossible not to address the elephant in the room, of course. The directorial debut by Ishana Shyamalan, M. Night’s daughter, is a poor execution of the genre because it lacks narrative force. Her experience as a second unit director on Old and Knock at the Cabin was clearly not enough to provide the knowledge necessary to make The Watchers a noteworthy scary movie. In following her father’s steps, the younger Shyamalan tries one last resource: a final twist that doesn’t quite stick the landing.
The Watchers
will start streaming on Max on August 30.