WATCHER |
★★½☆☆
9 August 2022
A movie review of WATCHER.
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Director: Chloe Okuno.
Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea.
“I want you to f**king believe me!” Julia (Maika Monroe)
The problem with casting Maika Monroe, in a fright flick, is the immediate comparison to one of the great modern horrors that starred her, IT FOLLOWS [2014]. It really does not help this movie by also involving stalking. The effectiveness of IT FOLLOWS is expert. I remember laughing in the cinema I was so scared. WATCHER, on the other hand, is tepid and ill-thought-out. Lingering camera shots don’t make a situation scary. There needs other alchemy – see the work of director Michael Haneke at his best. WATCHER is not devoid of skin-crawling moments, there are just too few.
Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea.
“I want you to f**king believe me!” Julia (Maika Monroe)
The problem with casting Maika Monroe, in a fright flick, is the immediate comparison to one of the great modern horrors that starred her, IT FOLLOWS [2014]. It really does not help this movie by also involving stalking. The effectiveness of IT FOLLOWS is expert. I remember laughing in the cinema I was so scared. WATCHER, on the other hand, is tepid and ill-thought-out. Lingering camera shots don’t make a situation scary. There needs other alchemy – see the work of director Michael Haneke at his best. WATCHER is not devoid of skin-crawling moments, there are just too few.
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Opening on Julia in a taxi. She has emigrated from New York to join her husband at his new posting in Romania. She does not speak the language. I geddit, this magnifies her isolation: No friends, no family, the language barrier curtailing aid from strangers. However, there is for me, a dubious whiff of tapping into fear of foreigners, which also emanates from HOSTEL [2005] and TAKEN [2008] to name two. In this climate of heightened demonisation of non-nationals it feels distasteful. If there had been a clever twist (à la TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL [2010]), then kudos would have been offered instead. When the lead decides to investigate a random basement in a decrepit building, the movie lost me. The Romanian tourist board would presumably not be happy with WATCHER.
The reasons surrounding the couple’s move are not elaborated on. Has husband Francis (Karl Glusman) been promoted? Is he high up in the company? Their Bucharest apartment is in a grey block opposite a grey block. It would have been interesting to find out, say, that their New York life was one of struggle in a tiny flat and they had little choice but to take this opportunity. Audiences can easily empathise with financial struggle. Being forced into a situation, rather than choosing it, also makes the characters easier to care about. If we are not meant to like them, then spell such out too. Little info and subtle info feed the imagination; no information frustrates. A story needs foundation to build on. Give us something to chew on.
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Alone all day, and at night when Francis works late, the couple have done no preparation for Julia to occupy her time. Is she waiting for a work visa? We do not know. Opposite their apartment she spots a silhouetted figure starring her way, setting up the central conceit: Is there a dangerous presence Julia should be alerted to? Why does her abode not have net curtains for privacy? Other questions arise:
- Why are front doors in so many movies so flimsy?
- Where are the deadlocks/deadbolts? Additional locks? Door chain? Alarm systems?
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Julia begins to suspect Burn Gorman’s character is the titular watcher. He looks malevolent. If the filmmakers are going to do little with the character, perhaps cast someone more ambiguous. A serial killer is hunting in the city; nicknamed for some reason “the Spider”. WATCHER does well by tapping into how society does not believe women, thinking they are hysterical. Women are not safe to walk the streets and enjoy their lives in peace is a welcome central observation of the film. It is then counterbalanced by whether Julia is correct. Julia was an actor and is re-evaluating her career path. She is bored. Idle hands, etc. Is she a “Karen” type persona (in modern parlance)? WATCHER deals less well with this. If the film had been more balanced, a real social nailbiter might have been born.
When a story needs a non-signposted nightmare for scares, you get the suspicion the movie has scant in the tank. For a superior horror movie this year, dealing with similar topics, check out Alex Garland’s MEN. I did enjoy WATCHER’s climax though.
