In her movie directorial debut, Ishana Night Shyamalan brought a peculiar horror novel to life—into an eerie, suspense-filled flick. In a similar fashion to her father, M. Night Shyamalan, she has kicked off her writing and directing chops in the horror genre. Ishana gained some directing credits and producing credits on Apple TV+’s Servant and on her father’s recent films Old and Knock at the Cabin. Despite the familial legacy, she delivered something that was familiar yet unique from M. Night’s formula in this modernly sinister flick, The Watchers.
Dakota Fanning is the main protagonist who plays a young 28-year-old artist named Mina who gets stranded in a lush, expansive forest in western Ireland—a remote section of woods in Connemara. It honestly could give the forests in British Columbia a run for its money. While trying to deliver a parrot to a buyer in the countryside (as part of her job working in a small, Irish version of PetSmart), she strangely lost her way in the middle of the forest trying to find help. While running away from some shrieking creature in the dark fog, she unknowingly became trapped in what Mina quickly learned is called “the Coop” alongside three other strangers.
They have been held captive by mysterious humanoid creatures called “The Watchers”; each of them has been trapped there at different times. The movie quickly established some of the rules of the Coop through the oldest, most experienced, and longest-held captive, Madeline. Essentially, she explained that if any of them left the Coop at night, the Watchers would kill that person(s). Other rules included not going near the burrows where the Watchers lived, staying within the established boundaries, and staying in the light no matter what.
“Fanning’s Mina was great acting as always—if not more compelling than anything she has done before.”
Throughout The Watchers, Mina learns more about the other captives: the gruff leader Madeline, as well as the young widow Ciara and the twitchy, young teenager Daniel. She also learns more about the Watchers and why the mirror only becomes a one-way mirror at night. Although I have not read the novel of the same title (by Irish author A.M. Shine), the story told here was interesting for its narrator. Everything that happened seemed to be told from Mina’s point of view, as she narrated a lot—I am not sure if this was because Fanning read some of the lines verbatim as the character from the book or not.
Still, Fanning’s Mina was great acting as always—if not more compelling than anything she has done before. I think I still see her as the young girl in 2006’s War of the Worlds or The Secret Life of Bees because we are close in age, and she started acting very young. However, this film convinced me that she is a woman of her own who has the acting chops to convey both fear and bravery in this mysterious scenario.
Other standout performances came from her fellow three co-stars. While I was not too familiar with their works, I thought they each brought their own uniqueness to their respective characters. Whether they had to be hallucinating or floundering in fear, they sold it.
“I appreciated the buildup to the full reveal of the Watchers, almost like how Godzilla was teased throughout in the first Godzilla in the MonsterVerse films.”
If I had to choose from the four of them, Olwen Fouéré’s Madeline had the most compelling performance. Even though Madeline was the oldest member of the stranded group, she was such a badass—even her outfit made her look so cool! I enjoyed that she was not written as some helpless old lady that a lot of other horror tropes do. I can see a didactic shift in ageism in film and TV, like how the elderly characters Howard and Pearl are portrayed in Ti West’s X.
From a VFX/CGI standpoint, the creatures were superb—for the most part. There were some janky movement scenes, but they were menacing. I appreciated the buildup to the full reveal of the Watchers, almost like how Godzilla was teased throughout in the first Godzilla in the MonsterVerse films. Keeping the details minimal for a while was a great call to really build that suspense.
Another thing that amazed me on the VFX and CGI side was how they filmed the scenes in the coop at night when the mirror only worked one way. Since the glass pane worked as a one-way mirror, it also meant that it would be difficult to film without reflections. Of course, there are a lot of filmmaking gags to sell this.
One possibility could be that the mirror was a CGI mirror; another could be that it was a real mirror, but then the animators had to repaint the backgrounds when they removed the cameras and crew. The fact that I am theorizing these possibilities shows how much work went into these scenes that could be difficult to capture.
The environment and lighting played a big part in the ambiance and eerie atmosphere. There was so much fog whenever the characters were outside the coop and exploring the forest. It made me curious if that was the natural fog or if they had to create some for the extra gloom and darkness.
On the other hand, the shots leading up to Mina’s imprisonment by the greenery and pastures were fantastically shot, showing off the vibrant, earthy colours and desolate winding roads. It is always a treat when filmmakers shoot in the actual location of the story, as was the case here. The cinematography in this movie was top-notch. I noticed a cool camera trick or some kind of filter over the lens where the flashbacks of Mina’s memories had a kind of shattered glass effect on the edges of the screen. That was a particularly interesting and purposeful choice.
“I would say that the final act of The Watchers began to ramp up and down a bit too quickly.”
By the end of the film, I was left feeling shocked and hyped at the same time. The themes were so good with the duality of humans and people, including the metaphors of the mirror and confronting one’s self and their fears. It was all interwoven and spun in a satisfying way. Without giving too much away, I thought the fantasy and historical concepts were explained fairly well. It reminded me of Ari Aster’s folklore research for Hereditary and Midsommar.
I would say that the final act of The Watchers began to ramp up and down a bit too quickly. There were a lot of plot points that felt rushed towards the end. But ultimately, the 1 hour and 42 minute running time went by pretty quickly. Although there were many moments of expository dialogue, it was usually followed by a moment of horror or fear.
The music by Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski also had a factor in ratcheting up the thrills. From the first scene alone, the score reminded me a little of the Saw theme but a little different. I think it was the way the orchestral violins went crazy. I would assume Korzeniowski’s experience in scoring horror came from his work on The Nun. But even The Watchers’ score evolved throughout—morphing into some more Irish folk music inspirations as the characters learn more about the Watchers and the Coop.
The balance of thriller, horror and fantasy was something I have not seen done well in a while. I would argue the small comedic moments are a special gem too. I felt like Ishana understood when the adrenaline needed to be ramped up, and where moments of levity to breathe and relax were needed.
Even though there is no post-credits scene, there are some references to the upcoming movie Trap, written and directed by M. Night (also starring his other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan). I think these hints and drops could be just a bit of fun between the filmmaking family, or I could be completely wrong, and there is something else brewing. I just hope that the whole Shyamalan family can continue to give us these great movies. All in all, this was an intelligently adapted, exciting directorial debut on the big screen for Ishana. I can’t wait to see her next project and see if this movie can be expanded into more sequels!