After working as the second unit director for her father’s films Old and Knock at the Cabin, Ishana Night Shyamalan makes her film directorial debut with The Watchers, a woodsy horror film seeped in Irish folklore. The Shyamalan name carries a certain distinction, especially within the horror genre, so it’s difficult to not make comparisons or look for the similarities. The Watchers is a below average film, with or without the Shyamalan name that comes attached to it. Neither scary nor interesting, it’s a dull horror story that is riddled with mindless exposition and poorly developed characters. The Irish folklore it takes its inspiration from has the potential to be interesting, but like the people in the film, it’s somewhere lost in the woods. Simply put, The Watchers not worth watching.
Mina (Dakota Fanning) lives in Ireland working at a pet shop and is tasked with delivering a bird to a customer. Unfortunately her car breaks down in a secluded forest while on the way there and she ventures into the forest to look for help. Almost immediately she becomes lost, trapped among the tall trees and dense foliage where walking in any direction mysteriously seems to only lead deeper into the woods. Finally, just before nightfall, she runs into another person who leads her to a shelter with a two-way mirror. There she learns of the Watchers, a terrifying group of creatures who come to the shelter every night to watch the people inside. If anyone tries to leave or finds themselves outside the bunker after the sun goes down, they are never seen again. Mina is now the latest victim to be trapped in the woods, doomed to be the Watchers’ latest infatuation.
The Watchers has an interesting premise. The stories involving Irish folklore and fairies is vast and mostly remains untapped potential for mainstream Hollywood. Unfortunately the film only does the bare minimum when it comes to exploring the creatures, turning them into generic monsters who mostly remain in the shadows. It starts off intriguing enough. The mystery of the forest and the minimalist bunker at its center brings up so many questions initially. But as the film goes on and the mystery gets solved, that intrigue turns into boredom. The characters themselves are mostly uninteresting. Mina has the most backstory but so much of it remains underutilized. She has a lot of unresolved trauma resulting from the death of her mother, and the walls she puts up to mask her own fears and insecurities mirrors that of the fairies, but it’s only touched upon in the film. So much of The Watchers feels like it’s laying down the building blocks of an interesting story but then it does nothing with them.
It’s unfortunate that shana Night Shyamalan’s debut feature film is more of a letdown than a full disappointment. There are the tiniest of breadcrumbs that have the potential to lead to a great story, but she is unfortunately unable to capitalize on them. To be honest, I don’t think even a more seasoned director would have been able to either, given the film we got. You’re better off watching something else entirely.
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The Watchers
Summary
The Watchers is a below average film, with or without the Shyamalan name that comes attached to it. Neither scary nor interesting, it’s a dull horror story that is riddled with mindless exposition and poorly developed characters. The Irish folklore it takes its inspiration from has the potential to be interesting, but like the people in the film, it’s somewhere lost in the woods. Simply put, The Watchers not worth watching.
