The Watchers

The Watchers
Starring Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere, Oliver Finnegan
Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most unique horror directors out there, and easily one of the most disjointed. He goes from Academy Award-nominated films like "The Sixth Sense" to...well..."The Last Airbender." While his track record hasn't always been on the higher trajectory, there's no denying that the man has a vision and he sets himself out to achieve it, and that vision has been transferred to his nepo daughter Ishana, who makes her directorial debut with "The Watchers," which is based on a novel by A.M. Shine. It's due to the fact that this isn't her original work that I give her a pass for some moments of the film, but overall it's a disjointed, exposition-heavy film that is intriguing and mysterious for the majority of the runtime, but falls apart utterly at the end.

Mina (Dakota Fanning) is a wayward American living in Ireland who masquerades at night playing someone other than herself, still dealing with the death of her mother fifteen years prior. She doesn't have friends, she doesn't show emotion, and it seems that's rather robotic in her actions and thoughts as a coping mechanism. While transferring a parrot to a client, her car breaks down in the middle of the woods and she finds herself under attack by an unseen force. She finds a bunker that houses three other people - Ciara (Georgina Campbell), Daniel (Oliver Finnegan), and Madeline (Olwen Fouere), the latter tells Mina the rules: they must stay inside at night and stand in front of a full-length mirror so the Watchers can observe them. No one knows who the Watchers are or what they want, but there seems to be no escape for the survivors - but Mina is determined to leave, breaking several rules and jeopardizing all their lives in the process.

"The Watchers" strength lies in its mystery, as we don't know fully who or what the Watchers are, but we do know that they're deadly and dangerous. We don't fully see them, but rather glimpses and shadows that adds to their scary demeanor, and the fact that we don't know what they really want is mystifying and terrifying - it's always the fear of the unknown that's the most frightening. Sadly, "The Watchers" then goes on to explain their purpose, what they want, why they have these people in this bunker, and ultimately their whole cryptid history. While fascinating, it diminishes the terror and leaves for an unsatisfying ending filled with exposition, confusing motives, and a lack of completeness. Again, that's not wholly Ishana's fault, but rather the author, but she fails to make it the least bit intriguing.

The story obviously draws comparisons to society as a whole and how we inundate ourselves with reality television, as the Watchers observe Mina and company like they're watching a reality show (Mina and company even have a DVD in their confines that's a "Love Island" type dating reality show). It serves as a window for us to see how people act, and even though we don't consciously consider it, we sometimes act like them as well. Again, this concept is all but done away with by the end, but during the middle it's an interesting thought at least.

The performances are decent enough, as Ishana steps away from her father's well-known trope of having all his actors act in completely monotone voices and gives them a bit of life, but again it's not wholly there. Dakota Fanning is a rather unsympathetic character, a flawed woman who calls herself a monster and who acts the most entitled of the bunch, demanding a way out even though the others have been there a lot longer. Georgina Campbell's Ciara pines about her husband a lot. Oliver Finnegan's Daniel is...there. Olwen Fouere shines the brightest as Madeline, the old woman who knows more about the Watchers than anyone and knows the rules they must follow, and leads with an iron will but also showcases empathy when needed. Yet none of these performances are standouts, and it'll be hard to remember it days later.

The Score: B