Watcher Review

Watcher review.

Watcher is a well-made thriller designed for one great viewing. An excellent lead performance and the choice to isolate you along with the main character fuel an intense mystery. The suspense lasts from the first frame until all of your questions are answered.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Watcher

Directed by Chloe Okuno

Written by Chloe Okuno

Starring Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman and Burn Gorman

Watcher Review

A lot of Watcher plays out like a modernized Rear Window. I’m not the first person to make the comparison. It’s hard not to. It’s essentially the same story. Someone sees something in a window across the street. There’s a mystery to solve and possible danger encroaching. It could also be a misunderstanding.

Julia (Maika Monroe) and her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) move to Romania for his new job. She doesn’t speak the language and spends her days alone in their apartment. At the same time there is a serial killer on the loose, Julia begins to suspect that a man who lives across the street is stalking her. Every time she looks out the window, she thinks someone is staring back at her. Is she a target or has her isolation gotten to her?

The smartest move that Watcher makes is to give us everything from Julia’s point of view. She doesn’t understand the language, so we aren’t given subtitles. We get to feel as confused or alone or afraid in situations as she does. It forces us to have no choice but to be on her side. We are seeing what she is after all.

When Julia looks out the window and sees what appears to be a man staring back at her across the street it is unnerving. Later, when she raises her hand to acknowledge his presence, we doubt our eyes the same way she’s been told to doubt her instincts. When he eventually signals back it’s chilling. From then on, we are with her in believing that she is being watched.

But that doesn’t mean she’s in danger. We follow Julia around town where the man she thinks is watching her keeps appearing. Someone sits behind her at the movie theater. Someone is there at the grocery store. Is it the man across the street? Even if it is, as her husband questions, he lives in the neighborhood and that’s the neighborhood grocery store. Maybe he’s looking at the woman who keeps staring at him.

Watcher makes no mistake that something is wrong. What It is, and how it’s connected to the man in the window and or the serial killer known as The Spider, is the central mystery of the movie. Is Julia connecting dots that aren’t there? Is she in real danger and no one will believe her? Are things only appearing to get worse the longer she stays a stranger in a strange land?

Watcher does a great job keeping you asking these questions. It makes sure that almost every moment is suspenseful. It’s an intense hour and a half or so. Every time you are about to get a piece of information you are excited that it might confirm your suspicion. And nervous that it’s another doubt to cast on what you believe.

Maika Monroe is excellent as Julia. The full weight of the movie depends on her performance. Julia is afraid but bold. Doubted but resolved. When her husband and the authorities fail her, she begins her own investigation. Desperate to learn about the man in the window. Is she putting herself in danger? Isn’t she the one intruding on someone else’s world? Is she even right?

In the end we get all of our answers. There are intense scenes and surprising revelations saved for the climax. The slow build is the better part. The ending is strong enough because the performances are so good. But Watcher isn’t a movie that will demand repeat viewings. Once you know all its answers the suspense isn’t the same. Still, it’s a well-made thriller that is well worth that first watch.

Scare Value

Watcher is an engrossing watch. Monroe dominates the movie with an assured performance even as the world around her character tell her not to be. A couple great supporting performances and confident direction help Watcher hit its marks. The mystery here is whether you can trust what you think you know. Is what you see what it appears to be? Aren’t you also watching from a window?

3.5/5