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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
M. Night Shyamalan is either one of the worst directors to ever be behind the camera, or a creative genius, depending on who you ask, and which movie you’re talking about about her, but no one can argue about the success of her first film The Sixth Sense. Now, while he casts one girl, Saleka Night, in Traphis younger daughter, Ishana Night, went behind the camera for her first feature film, The Watcherswhich recently appeared on Netflix. In keeping with family tradition, the film has divided the horror community, with opinions almost perfectly split, but even the naysayers admit that Ishana has some of her father’s talent .
Strict Caste
The horror film features Dakota Fanning like Mina, an American traveling through Belfast, whose car breaks down in a creepy forest where an equally creepy woman tells her to come with her if she wants to live. The woman, Madeline (played by Olwen Fouere, who recently appeared in Tarot), brings Mina into a bunker connected to The Coop, a structure with a one-way window that allows the strange beings, called Watchers, to watch them every night. The Watchers is a possible metaphor for streaming on Netflix or reality TV in spades, but the strange beings, who cannot be caught in the sunlight, are clearly dangerous and have evil intentions for the trapped cast.
The humans, who in addition to Mina and Madeline include Georgina Campbell (known for Barbarian) as Ciara, and Irish actor Oliver Finnegan as Daniel, wander during the day but always return to the safety of the bunker and The Coop every night to perform for the Viewers. With the limited cast and locations ranging from The Coop to the woods and another angle in the woods, it might seem like The Watchers was a low-budget Netflix original when, in fact, it was entirely financed by M. Night Shyamalan. That fact means that no matter how scary or horrifying the premise, and there are a few good jump scares to be found, some people made up their minds about the film long before it hit theaters.
The Issue of Nepotism is Unavoidable
Nepotism has become a big problem in Hollywood lately, although it has been around in every industry since the dawn of time, but very few directors can get their first film to be completely bankrolled by their father up to $30 million. That right means that The Watchers faced an uphill battle for attention on its own merits, and although it wasn’t a huge theatrical hit, it has been in Netflix’s top ten since it debuted on the world’s biggest streaming platform.
Long before it became a success Netflix, The Watchers It was a book by AM Shine, and in making the transition from page to screen, there were some big changes. For one, the book never describes what the Watchers look like, while the film eventually shows them in all their creepy glory, and strangely, it’s the book that sets up a sequel and not the film. There are other changes as well, but in true Shyamalan fashion, there is a twist to the story.
The Watchers is currently available on Netflix, while you can watch M. Night’s other daughter perform inside Trap forward Max. There is no denying that nepotism had a hand in both projects, but it is also true that there is much worse horror out there today, as above. Tarotand indeed, both films are worth your time to watch and judge for yourself.
