The Watchers (2024) – Review

Quick Thoughts – Grade – C – Directed  Ishana Night Shyamalan, this adaptation of A.M. Shine’s 2022 novel never feels cohesive as there are multiple elements and twists that work against the flow of the supernatural thriller. 

At first glance, The Watchers, a film about four people being trapped in a dense supernatural Irish forest, was the perfect property for Ishana Night Shyamalan to adapt into a feature length film. Ishana grew up watching her father trap people in places (Signs, Split, The Village, Lady in the Water, Old, Devil, Lady in the Water, Knock at the Cabin, The Visit,  After Earth), so directing a film about four people becoming prisoners inside an isolated bunker surrounded by mysterious monsters is a smart idea. However, the film never really comes together because there’s no clear focus on a central theme. The movie looks good (1.85:1 aspect ratio gives the forest a nice height), and the performances from Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell (watch Barbarian – she is so good in it), Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouéré (Mandy, Sea Fever – watch them too) are solid, but The Watchers never feels like a cohesive or focused endeavor. 

The Watchers focuses on an American named Mina (Dakota Fanning), who lives in Galway and is struggling with demons from her past that will play an important part during the climax of the movie. She works at a pet shop and is tasked with delivering a sassy bird to its new owner in Belfast. On her journey, Mina gets lost and finds herself deep inside a dense forest that is home to monsters who live under the ground and come out at night. She miraculously finds safety inside a well-fortified shelter that has a mysterious two-way mirror covering an entire side of it. Inside the bunker, she meets Ciara (Campbell), Madeline (Fouéré), and Daniel (Finnegan), who have been trapped in the bunker for at least five months. Together, they forage for food during the daylight hours, and spend their nights being watched by the creatures outside their shelter. In a cheeky bit of irony,  the only entertainment they have in their safehaven is a DVD copy of a cheesy reality dating show that they watch each night. Since it’s a Shyamalan family film, I don’t want to spoil any more of the plot because there are inevitable twists and turns that occur in the woods. 

The biggest problem with the film is that Shyamalan can’t keep the narrative flowing smoothly – which grinds the movie to a halt several times. Thrillers are deceptively hard to write and direct because they rely on building tension that cannot be interrupted with a bad edit or misplaced scene. Successful thrillers draw audiences in and immerse them. Less-successful thrillers kill the suspense when the story isn’t focused or there are too many competing themes or characters. It’s a bit frustrating because if certain elements were combined (or dropped for the sake of pacing) The Watchers could’ve been wrangled into a fun high-concept thriller that takes place in a single location. Instead, Shyamalan splits up the action and turns a simple idea into something a little too complicated. As a first-time feature director she’s shown a lot of promise, and there’s no doubt she’ll learn from this and come back stronger with a tight script and focus for her next project.