Do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? Maybe you’re at the supermarket or walking towards your home. No matter where you go, you always feel that eyes are upon you. A new thriller called Watcher takes a familiar premise and adds some genuine suspense that culminates with an ending that is sure to take you by surprise.
The movie follows the lives of a young couple, Julia (Maika Monroe) and Francis (Karl Glusman), who have recently relocated to Bucharest, Romania. While both are American-born, Francis is familiar with the Romanian language since his grandmother was born there. Julia doesn’t know the language and spends most of her time alone in their apartment. The apartment is an open-concept type, decorated in the same style that one would spot when reading an HGTV magazine.
They’ve moved into a relatively large building near the city center. There are local shops, a train station, and plenty of windows to see into other residents’ apartments, provided they don’t have the curtains pulled. Francis works in marketing and is hardly home to witness the strange occurrences that Julia experiences. It isn’t long after the young couple move in that Julia spots a figure from across the courtyard who appears to be leering into her apartment.
Not only is he watching her, but he follows her outside her apartment. When she goes to the local cinema, a man sits directly behind her, leans forward, and breathes heavily so that she can feel his breath going down her neck. She retreats to a local supermarket where again, the mysterious man appears. While the man doesn’t make physical or verbal contact, she feels unsafe. However, Julia isn’t sure if the man following her is the same one who watches her from across the courtyard.
After contacting authorities and pleading with her husband, Julia is left to fend for herself. Her husband constantly downplays the situation and figures that his wife is being hysterical. As she’s unable to communicate with other residents in the building because of the language barrier, Julia feels trapped in her apartment and truly alone. She used to be an actress, but as it stands, Francis is the breadwinner and Julia doesn’t work. Julia makes a friend with Irina (Madalina Anea), a neighbor who speaks English and offers Julia some much-needed advice.
We later see Julia take the reins and strike back at this stalker by following him and attempting to prove if this man is indeed the one watching her from across the way. Additionally, concerns are raised when women are found murdered throughout the city. The method of murder is the same, and the killer has claimed at least four female victims already. He’s given a name too: Spider. Julia now has to contend with a serial killer on the loose who is targeting women.
Maika Monroe is fabulous here as Julia. Even though the movie is a brisk 95 minutes, she brings such complexity to her character. We see the fear, the frustration, and the determination to find out who this man is so that she can live in peace. I don’t want to give away the remainder of the film but what transpires is one woman’s attempt to regain control in her life and solve an ongoing problem herself when no one else either believes her or downplays what she’s feeling.
Director Chloe Okuno (in her debut feature film) puts the suspense front and center. Instead of relying on cheap jump scares, she slowly reels the audience in. The script is based on Zack Ford’s draft, with revisions by Okuno. What makes this movie shine is the pacing. This is a slow-burning, nail-biting suspense film that may feel familiar, but is compelling nonetheless. The sound design is a major help in this regard. We hear every breath, every footstep, every sound that makes us stop in our tracks and listen once more to see where that noise came from. Sound is essential in this film, plus the cinematography is eye-catching — similar to Panic Room in some aspects.
Score: 4/5
Watcher is a fantastic thriller that grabs our attention and doesn’t let go. The script is straightforward and doesn’t add any unnecessary weight, and the performances are excellent across the board. Even though I’m tempted to see an alternate ending, Watcher is a worthy thriller that showcases the talents of the cast, crew, and writer/director Chloe Okuno. It may be a familiar story, but we can’t help ourselves from walking through that door once again when it’s done right.
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