The Watched – Movie Review
Director: Ishana Shyamalan
Writer: Ishana Shyamalan (Screenplay)
Writer: A.M. Shine (Novel)
Cast
- Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds)
- Georgina Campbell (Barbarian)
- Olwen Fouere (Tarot)
- Oliver Finnegan (Outlander)
- Alistair Brammer (Les Miserables)
- John Lynch (Isolation)
Plot: A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Watched starts when Mina (Fanning) is asked to travel across Ireland to deliver a bird. Along the way, she gets lost in a massive forest, where Madeline (Fouere) rescues her. She is taken back to a shelter known as the Coup where Ciara (Campbell) and Daniel (Finnegan) hide out the night.
Mina learns what the four must do, which includes performing a normal life in front of a two-way mirror for creatures that only come out at night. However, Mina doesn’t follow the rules and starts uncovering a bigger truth about what is in the forest.
Verdict on The Watched
The Watched is a horror thriller following a young woman who finds herself trapped in a mysterious forest with three strangers. She wants to understand what is going on, which sends her down a strange path as she learns the truth of what the creatures want.
This movie dives into folklore again, which is a subject that is filled with fascinating creations. The biggest driving point of the movie comes from wanting to know what the creatures are and what they want. Step outside of that factor, the human characters are not as interesting, despite Mina having a trauma which needs to be addressed. It is creepy and has an interesting mystery on hand. We get strong performances and Ishana Shyamalan proves herself a worthy director in a twisted fantasy horror creation.
Final Thoughts – The Watched is creepy and eerie, and makes you want to learn more.