Uneven Watchers Still Overflows in Supernatural Dread
The Watchers, adapted from the novel by A.M. Shine, was written for the screen and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and produced by her The Sixth Sense, Signs, and Unbreakable filmmaker father M. Night Shyamalan. It’s the story of a young woman, artist Mina (Dakota Fanning), who finds herself lost in the middle of a dense Irish forest and trapped in a mysterious bunker with three other strangers, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), Ciara (Georgina Campbell), and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan).
The kicker is that each night like clockwork all four are required to stand before the gigantic one-way mirror at the front of their compound and present themselves to an unseen audience wanting to look at them on the other side. They hoot. They holler. They make some of the most chilling noises imaginable. They are not human, this cadre of creatures obsessed with Mina and her companions as if they were the star attractions in their personal clandestine zoo, and this means none of them are allowed to leave.
Having not read Shine’s source material, I cannot say how closely Shyamalan’s adaptation hues to it. This is, however, where I do think my appreciation of the film is amplified because I didn’t know the ins and outs of the story before I stepped inside the theater. There are several unanswered questions, and Shyamalan allows things to develop as if events were happening inside some never-ending waking nightmare. This ambiance of inescapable dread allowed me to overlook the intentional vagaries that are littered throughout the narrative, and had I been more familiar with Shine’s prose, I do not think this would have been the case.
As is Shyamalan tradition, there are twists aplenty, and Ishana Night Shyamalan puts her own distinctive spin on them outside of her father’s gigantic shadow. Most of the revelations are fairly obvious and easy to guess. Others are thankfully slightly more difficult to sus out. Thankfully the majority of the clues are there for the audience to assemble for themselves (as long as they’re paying attention), and the number of red herrings is kept to a reasonable minimum.
Where the younger Shyamalan comes up short is in the pacing of all of this. I’m all for being methodical, and the leisurely tempo does suit the material. But because the characters are all built on shorthand and the mythological elements are purposefully ephemeral, this languid march towards an exciting — and hopefully shocking — resolution works against the film. It’s too easy to get distracted by outside forces, so when the truth is finally revealed, it does not pack that proverbial wallop.
But as this is a case of style over substance, I am happy to say that the technical elements are captivatingly sublime. The production design crafted by Ferdia Murphy (The Other Lamb) is meticulously sparse and suitably weathered. Everything serves a purpose, and nothing is lying around to fill the frame with useless nonsense. Abel Korzeniowski crafts an eerily memorable score, and much like his themes for The Nun or Nocturnal Animals, it’s impossible to believe this supernatural drama would work at all without the aid of his compositions.
As for the ensemble, they’re all good and each makes the most of what they’re given to portray. But their characters never travel too far beyond their initial introductions. Mina is still reeling from the death of her mother 15 years prior, feeling it was her fault she perished in a horrific car accident. Madeline looks to keep control of an uncontrollable situation. Daniel doesn’t want anyone to know how terrified he actually is. Ciara worries about her husband (he set out to find his way through the forest a few days before Mina’s arrival) even though parts of her already know what happened to him. This is what we learn about each individual early on. This is who the majority of them remain by the time events reach their conclusion.
Still, Fanning is excellent as Mina, and I loved her various interactions with Fouéré. They have a rhythmic patter that’s almost musical, and this allows the connection that develops between them to crescendo with a melodic authority that moved me. Even if I wasn’t surprised by the climactic twist centered on Mina and Madeline, the emotional understanding between the two characters was sincere enough to properly hold my attention.
It doesn’t all hold together, and, as I’ve already stated, I think this would make me at least moderately upset if I had been acquainted with Shine’s book. But as I wasn’t, Shyamalan’s ability to generate a genuinely creepy ambiance sent chills up my spine, and I didn’t mind that a few of the foundational pieces barely held together, let alone led to a completed puzzle.
Yet the overall vibe of The Watchers worked for me. I was never bored, the lore involving the creatures lurking within the impenetrable darkness was intriguing, and a revelation concerning the bunker everyone is trapped in brought a smile to my face. While Shyamalan rushes too quickly through the final moments, I still liked the way things played out. As imperfect as this hushed supernatural chiller may be, the demons it conjures up — both real and metaphorical — left a lasting impression, and that’s nothing to scoff at.
Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)
