The Watchers (2024)
Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan
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.
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6 films that influenced The Watchers
What critics say influenced The Watchers
Mina (Dakota Fanning) appears to be sleepwalking through her life, numb with some combination of ennui and grief, not unlike the Bruce Willis character in Unbreakable; she winds up lost in mysterious woods that may be populated by monsters, not unlike the environment depicted in The Village; and wakes up in a small building trapped with a small group of strangers, not unlike the spartan set-ups for Split or Knock at the Cabin.
Now that The Sixth Sense writer/director's daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is following in his footsteps by making her first feature, decades of that viewer training across Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split, Glass and more laps at The Watchers' feet.
From the jaw-dropping The Sixth Sense to the all-consuming Unbreakable to the spine-tingling Signs, we took Shyamalan’s name for granted.
And, like almost any Shyamalan film after Signs and before Split, the folklore horror film is ambitious to the hilt but never quite reaches the full ambit of its genre.
Now that The Sixth Sense writer/director's daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is following in his footsteps by making her first feature, decades of that viewer training across Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split, Glass and more laps at The Watchers' feet.
It was true of Devil, intended as the first in a series of Shyamalan-produced supernatural horror tales that never got off the ground, and it’s true of The Watchers, written and directed by his daughter, Ishana, from the novel by A.M. Shine.
And, like almost any Shyamalan film after Signs and before Split, the folklore horror film is ambitious to the hilt but never quite reaches the full ambit of its genre.
Now that The Sixth Sense writer/director's daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is following in his footsteps by making her first feature, decades of that viewer training across Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split, Glass and more laps at The Watchers' feet.
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Now that The Sixth Sense writer/director's daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is following in his footsteps by making her first feature, decades of that viewer training across Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split, Glass and more laps at The Watchers' feet.
Think Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, Julia Ducournau’s Raw or Rose Glass’ Saint Maud.