The spooky season comes early this year as IFC Midnight and Shudder (one of my favorite streaming services) team up to produce and distribute Watcher, a film starring Maika Monroe, about a young woman who begins to feel like her neighbor is watching her after moving to Romania with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman). Rear Window and Disturbia have been two films in this horror genre that have always stood out and Watcher can be easily added to this list because of the mesmerizing atmosphere Chloe Okuno creates.
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Horror comes in many forms, not just from the idea of being watched, but also in the form of language barriers and being a woman. Being alone in her apartment and most of the day as she walks around the city, it does not come as a shock that Julia (Maika Monroe) is cautious of her surroundings once she begins to feel uneasy by a neighbor who seems to be looking into her window daily. Also, being the odd one out in her husband’s circle of co-workers and new friends due to her limited ability to speak and understand Romanian, Okuno uses all of these elements to her advantage to create an unsettling atmosphere for the film.
In Watcher, the supporting characters are written realistically and act relatively rationally towards Julia, rather than paint her out to be a crazy and paranoid woman. Although other characters may be hesitant to share her feelings that someone is wrong, they do what they can to ease her mind and look at the situation as logically as possible. However, what the film examines is whether following your intuition is wise or whether to give others the benefit of the doubt.
Watcher is an enthralling thriller directed by Chloe Okuno. It is hard to look away once the story begins. Audiences, such as myself, will find themselves looking in the background and the corners of shots, almost as if we are trying to look out for Julia ourselves. The film never banks on the ending, as to whether Julia is paranoid or if her “watcher” is a threat. It can be watched again and again because of the ability of Okuno to pace the film fantastically. This is a midnight movie that I will certainly be enjoying yearly in the middle of the night.
‘Watcher (2022)’ Rating – 4/5
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