2024   Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  41min

Horror ~ Fantasy ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Ishana Night Shyamalan

Starring:  Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré and Oliver Finnegan.

“You can’t see them, but they see everything.”

Dakota Fanning stars as Mina, an American Artist working in an exotic pet shop in Galway, Ireland. A customer has bought the Golden Conure Parrot and the owner asks Mina to deliver the parrot to the zoo that bought it in Belfast. The GPS takes her through an uncharted forest in western Ireland and on a narrow one lane dirt path, her car and the GPS suddenly quit working. Thinking she saw someone, she grabs the birdcage and heads into the woods to find help. She comes across a woman who suddenly takes off running and Mina follows her. Mina catches up just in time to see the woman in the door of a large concrete bunker say “You better hurry, it’s almost dark and they will be coming.”

Mina makes it inside safely as the woman closes the huge metal door and locks the numerous bolts that secure the door. Mina looks around at the concrete bunker and notices that one wall is completely glass, floor to ceiling. There is also a young man and a girl with the woman Mina had followed. The Older woman introduces herself as Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), and the young woman and man as Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). She tells Mina that they must hurry and line up in front of the window, they will be here soon. “Who? Who will be here soon? What is going on?”, Mina wants to know, but then she hears them. The Watchers have come….

Who are The Watchers you ask? I dare not tell you for it would ruin it for you. I can’t say anymore without giving anything away except maybe….It is an uncharted spooky forest in Ireland and there is a bit of Irish Folklore at hand. I am fond of Ireland, I have American and Irish ancestry. Although given the current state in America it might be time to leave and go to Ireland, but that is political talk not meant for a movie review. I liked the scenery and the way the forest was portrayed as a very spooky forbidden place. Lots of fog creeping in amongst the trees as the night comes. There are a lot of twists and turns you don’t see coming, and you don’t put it all together until the end. I think  Dakota Fanning and the rest of the cast did a good job. I think the parrot could have had a bigger role. I can see how he might have been put to more use to add some suspense after finding out he could talk.

I liked the story, it is based on the book The Watchers by A.M. Shine. A bit of Irish Folklore with a Horror twist. It was directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan who also produced the movie. It is Ishana’s Directorial debut, after reading the book she thought that it would translate well to the screen and decided to direct it with the help of her father. I think that it is a good first attempt, it kept me going right up until the end. The end was kind of anti-climatic for me. I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if the book is that way as well. It felt like a bit of a let-down after the build-up to the end.

So to sum everything up, I liked it. I thought it was a great first attempt for Ishana. Could it have been better, I think so. There were some obvious things that could have given it more depth and to tie things together a little better. The ending was a bit of a let-down, I think that could have been handled differently to really make the ending zing.(You know….ZING!) I will say I liked it more then her father’s movie Knock At The Cabin. I think it is worth a watch, give it a go and tell me what you think.