The watchers
Year of release : 2024
Run time : 1h42min
Genre : Horror / Mystery / Fantasy
Cast : Dakota Fanning
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan's daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, the movie is based on the 2022 novel of the same name by A. M. Shine.
Mina is working at a pet shop in Ireland. In her free time she puts on wigs and pretends to be someone else. The day the movie starts, she is asked by her boss to take a parrot to a Zoo in Belfast,on a trip which lasts a day.
On her way there, she enters a forest, at which's entrance there are a lot of missing people's pictures.
Her car breaks down, she has no signal,so she takes the parrot and walks. She realizes that the car is gone, and the forest doesn't look familiar anymore.
As the sun sets, she meets an old woman,Madeline, who tells her she can't be outside after dark, and takes her to her shelter, called the Coop.
The Coop is a sort of bunker, with a mirrored window on a side, the creatures of the night can't penetrate. She meets two more people, Ciara,who's husband is missing(he's the man we see getting lost at the beginning of the movie), and Daniel,who ran away from home.
As the movie progresses, we're told they have to follow certain rules, as being inside before dark, having to always face the window,never turning their back on it, and never go near these creatures' holes.
Mina, being selfish and angry, decides to break the rules, so she convinces Daniel to help her get down into the creatures' tunnel. She finds a bicycle and other things, and takes them. That very same night, the creatures almost break the glass, and Ciara's dead husband knocks at the door.
Madeline tells them they can't open the door, as these creatures can take the shape of people.
Soon after, as winter falls, Daniel and Ciara lock Madeline-who is fighting him the way his father did,for not being able to find food- and Mina out,after dark.
They seek shelter under a rotten tree, and see these very tall humanoid beings.
The two lie Madeline and Mina didn't return to the Coop, and the beings start looking for them through the forest. The two take this opportunity to beg them to let them in, which they do.
Seeing they are back in, the creatures are enraged,as they broke their rules too many times, and start breaking down the shelter.
I personally enjoyed the movie. It had it all, suspense,mystery,scares, thrills.. and two reveals.
The visual merges with the audio,creating perfection. The vibe of the movie reminded me of the M.Night Shyamalan movies,and one of my favorite movies ,The Ring (2002),especially at the beginning of the movie,due to the visuals and the eerie,pensive music. It just gives you the feeling you're there,with the characters, like when reading a book.
The leading characters seemed to have been attracted to the place by some past trauma, like for example, Mina was responsible for the car crash which had her mother k!lled, for being spoiled,and never doing as told, while Daniel ran away from home as his father was abusive.
Mina's sister(who's also a twin) name is Lucy, so the writer must have been a Dracula fan.
I liked the reveal, although I don't understand how could the professor build that place, always letting the people die at night(where did he find so many people considering how far away the forest and the place is, not to mention, there's no signal, and didn't he need an architect?). And how much could they have built on the first day,or the first week, for him to be able to hide inside,like he said.
SPOILER The creatures are fairies, who used to live among humans,but they were banished underground, and they lost their wings and ability to walk in the sun.They even had kids with humans, called halflings.
The actors were great.
The visual effects were good.
I loved the soundtrack,written by Abel Korzeniowski.
The movie is out in cinemas world wide.
Rating : It's so money !