The Watchers

The Watchers is not a perfect movie, but it is an excellent start, heralding the arrival of a bold new talent.

Fanning brings her A-game and there’s enough mystery about the monsters in the woods to string audiences along until the satisfyingly weird finish. As mid-list horror goes, perfectly fine.

Based on the book by A.M. Shine, “The Watchers” is Ishana Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut, a fabled narrative that seesaws between fantastical whimsy and proposed horrific terror with lots of ambition but little finesse.

If there’s much about her debut that left me wishing the apple had fallen a little further from the tree, there’s also no denying that the “Unbreakable” filmmaker’s daughter has the skill to follow in her father’s footsteps, which she does here even when the material is begging her to blaze her own trail.

Not every figure in films like this one needs to be rendered with full psychological complexity, but when a horror movie rushes past a promising start in order to wallow in clichés, it feels as though it’s squandering a premise.

Ironically for something titled The Watchers, this production lacks the basic quality of watchability.

The Watchers just doesn’t connect on anything deeper than a surface level. Given material that isn’t about looking at the same boring thing over and over, Shyamalan might have been able to really make something.

It excels in creating atmosphere—thanks to breathtaking settings, and a well scored soundtrack. Early sequences are intriguing. Unfortunately, as the narrative unfolds, the plot becomes uninteresting, and the ultimate reveal fails to deliver the expected payoff, leaving the experience a bit underwhelming. A good movie, just not an interesting one towards the end.

The watchers was okay. I think the movie had potential go be better but it was okay. I did enjoy seeing Dakota fanning acting again, I haven’t seen her in a while on screen. I believe the plot details could’ve been explained better to make the anticipation better and give more information. However, I did think the ending was good, but you can probably guess what happens as well. If you enjoy stories about folklore and sci-fi you will enjoy this movie.

Solid debut by Ishana **** the daughter of M **** is that long ago. It's quite well directed and sheshows talent, but this twisty thriller also has some weird, cluncky dialogues that hamper its effectiveness.

Just nonsense, mind numbing dialogue and exposition dumps. Even the suggestion of tension, mystery, or horror is completely lacking.

This film is described as a horror movie. I have no idea why. Had decided to avoid like the plague given that it has a double helping of Night Shyalaman involvement but a family member raves about it so off I went. Took ages to get going and the third act was so contrived you couldn’t even call it a twist.