Movie Details
Movie: Watcher (2022)
Director: Chloe Okuno
Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman and Burn Gorman
Genres: Horror/Mystery
Release date: 3 June 2022
IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
Languages: English
Duration: 1h 36m
Trailer
Synopsis
Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult to come up with an original subject, and this is especially true for a film on the border between thriller and horror. The story path taken by the new Watcher is perhaps the most well-past and the most eye-opening. It even seems to me that we see a plot about a woman being followed or seeing something that others don’t believe in the cinema or stream at least once a year. But every fabric can be shot in a refreshing and eye-catching style. And director Chloe Okuno does it quite solidly.
And that even though the script is really stupid. American Julia moves with her husband to his native Romania, where he receives a great job offer. But while he hangs out in the chancellery for days, she is alone in the apartment and on the streets, where she doesn’t know anyone and doesn’t even speak the same language. In addition, Bucharest is currently not very safe, as a serial killer is on the loose. Lonely Julia then begins to feel that someone is constantly watching her from the window of the block of flats opposite. And he follows her every step of the way. Only no one, including her significant other, believes her.
No, Watcher doesn’t score originality points. On the other hand, everyone here was aware of it, but even so, the creators decided to make the most out of the threadbare theme. And at least the director succeeds for most of the footage. In her presentation, Watcher is a damn slow and in many passages unexpectedly atmospheric spectacle, in which Okuno skilfully plays with tension and with individual shots, which she properly stretches and lets them resonate appropriately. She is also able to appropriately build a feeling of insecurity around the increasingly desperate heroine when she is no longer sure whether she is simply being taken advantage of. And the gloomy and nicely lasting atmosphere is also helped by the environment of the housing estate in Bucharest, which has a properly cold and alienated impression.
In short, Chloe Okuno shows that she has a decent talent for thrillers and so-called slowburn pieces, and even if she gets a little loopy in the middle, she makes up for it with an excellently graded last third, in which the scene in the subway is mainly a well-realized and played tension squeezer. In addition, she has great support in the excellent Maice Monroe, who practically does not leave the frame and you believe her every second as a woman falling more and more into despair. And after the horror films Neutečes and The Guest, he again proves that he can choose projects really carefully in the field of independent studios and low-key films. And the villain, Burn Gorman, is properly unsettling and doesn’t even have to say that much.
Despite the director’s art and the acting’s drive, the film pays for the script after all. Despite all efforts, almost all saw are encountered here, the plot is predictable to the point of woe and, unlike the direction, the script does not play innovatively with the sloppy plot. On the contrary, it slides too much on the surface, does not elaborate enough on some interesting motifs, and undermines the legs of the sympathetically struggling author a little. And if the end credits had come a minute earlier, the film would have been much stronger and the creators could have defended the unoriginal story much better.
Even so, Watcher is a very likable one-bite, which may blow your mind faster than you’d like because of the script, but at the same time, it shows a fascinating plot in an atmospheric package. Although it is already clear that the rather slow style will not suit everyone. The result will probably not appear in annual tops, but at least he managed to introduce us to one decent directing talent. I consider Chloe Okuno to be one of the promising authors, whose next film I will be looking forward to.
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