“The Watchers,” directed by 23-year-old Ishana Night Shyamalan, fails to join the ranks of brilliant horror debut films made by women in the past 20 years, despite an apparent surplus of resources. The film, paradoxically marked by Dakota Fanning's strong performance and littered with cliches about Irish folklore and inhibiting theoretical concepts, does not hit the mark.
The movie produced by Ishana's father M. Night Shyamalan attracts viewers with its intense atmosphere, but soon loses itself in an overdone storyline involving a distraught man in an uncharted Irish forest, haunted by ominous signs and artificial-looking birds.
Fanning's character Mina, a distressed pet shop worker and artist, becomes embroiled in this perplexing narrative when she stumbles upon an isolated shelter in the forest. Three stranded travelers introduce her to the eponymous “Watchers,” who ominously observe them in the night.
Though efforts are made to spin the plot into a suspenseful narrative, the film fails to create palpable tension or offer genuine horror. Instead, it leaves viewers questioning mundane plot points, like the characters' ridiculously well-maintained hair. The film also previews a fascinating concept with the reveal of a hidden hatch, but this leads only to an underwhelming climax.
Despite a rushed revelation about Irish folklore and some intriguing glimpses of the Watchers, the plot only marginally improves over the course of the film. Consequentially, when the true climax arrives, audiences might have lost interest.
In contrast to Shyamalan’s impressive work on her father’s Apple TV+ series Servant, “The Watchers” presents a polished, yet sterile horror film. It makes good use of its filmed locations but fails to create captivating characters, reducing a talented cast to forgettable roles.
Ultimately, "The Watchers" is more dull than disturbing, more worn-out than terrifying. Its underwhelming narrative and its cliched ending leave a lot to be desired. As it finally concluded, I found myself echoing a line from the movie, “Try not to die.”
