Les Guetteurs

I have often thought of this novel since consuming the audiobook in a couple days last year. I've recommended it to a lot of fellow horror readers, too. I personally feel that the film adaptation falls incredibly short of what it could have been. The novel is beautifully crafted with suspense and character development, whereas the movie offers 2D characters that are simply there just because. Their faces remain blank the majority of the movie and their line delivery is flat and almost always as if they're bored talking.

In true Shyamalan fashion, (yes, it's M. Night's daughter who directed it, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree), the twist is a huge moment. While it does get revealed, it also changes a huge part of the original ending of the book, which makes the overall story even more of a 2D "horror twist." The book's ending gave me chills; the movie's ending gave me cliché horror.

I will say, I was eager to see who would play the character of Madeline, as she is such a force in the book as the most interesting character, as well as the one who has been trapped in the forest the longest, and Olwen Fouéré portrays her beautifully. The overall set design and atmosphere of the film is also done well, which helps but also makes the movie's poor script and characters feel all the more disappointing at times.

While I won't actively encourage not seeing this movie, I DO encourage you to check out the book, by A. M. Shine. I'm also happy that an author whose work I appreciate it getting the attention of Hollywood to have his work made into a different media form - let's hope if his other works become film or television adaptations, that they'll be given the adaptation they deserve.

I went into this film with fairly high expectations, intrigued by the trailers and the interesting concept. I recognized only one actor, Georgina Campbell, the lead from "The Barbarian," a film I quite enjoyed. I was also eager to see how Ishana Shyamalan's directorial debut would turn out.

To start, I think the film was very well directed, featuring some really cool and creepy shots that effectively conveyed the story without relying heavily on dialogue. The initial concept of the creatures was interesting; I assume they are based on a real mythical creature, which adds a nice element of realism to the horror genre. However, that's where the positives end for me.

The acting felt mediocre. Despite what I've seen online, I had no issues with the accents, being from the UK and accustomed to Irish accents. The acting, however, often felt forced, and I didn't find the relationships or the characters' dread believable. The only scene with commendable acting involved Georgina Campbell.

My main issue with the film is the twist. Without giving away spoilers, I found it incredibly obvious and poorly thought out. It felt like a placeholder from the first draft, something that should have been replaced with a more refined idea.

Overall, it's an okay film. Not something I'll rave about, but if you're looking for a short horror movie to watch over the weekend, it might be worth a try.

Having read some reviews, most of which very negative, decided to give Dakota another shot after the very emotionless performance she displayed on the latest Mr Ripley series. Again, the prodigal War of the Worlds actress offers a very emotionless, expressionless performance. It's like she doesn't want to be there, or is generally numbed. Not having a strong lead made this rely on the premise alone, and it did deliver.

Story is somewhat fresh, suspenseful, well paced action. Overall good entertainment for a monday night flick at home, but no more than that.

I'll give it a 6/10 for the effort put on everything but the acting.

While Ishana Night Shyamalan absolutely is her own filmmaker, and should her films judged on their own merits, The Watchers reminded me a lot of her fathers works in the ways that I usually find his films frustrating. I'm going to try my best not to keep comparing this to M. Night's movies but in particular The Watchers reminded me a lot of The Village and the issues I have with that film and I think I'd still feel that way with or without the familial connection.

Because like The Village, The Watchers has a very intriguing hook that presents a lot of interesting story possibilities very early on but it never capitalises on them in any satisfying way. The dialogue is really weak here and it's frequently delivered in extremely wooden ways which most rears its head in the exposition. Because Shyamalan clearly doesn't believe in the less-is-more approach in that she feels the need to over explain everything and as a result the mystery never really feels that intriguing. Most of the reveals come across as very flat that feel like they lack sufficient build up to be satisfying.

It's also very repetitive for most of the first 2 acts with it essentially following the same stricture of leaving this house and returning to it before night fall and it just came across as tiring rather tension-building. The reveals don't really feel earned and they're the one thing I wanted the film to explore more but the script really feels like it strikes the worst balance with what it chooses to focus on. The 3rd act was also a pretty big disappointment. The main action that's being built up for the entire film is achieved in a fairly standard way that doesn't feel fitting for what was being set up and it makes the mistake of feeling like it's getting ready to end only to go on for what felt like another 30 minutes.

Thankfully what saves the film from being a complete waste of time is the truly impressive filmmaking on display. It's gorgeously shot and visually ambitious in a way that feels like it could only come from a first-time director. I thought the score was phenomenal as was the cinematography in a way that didn't feel like it was drawing too much attention to itself. There are some very effective scares and genuine scenes of tension, unfortunately it was just never sustained enough to keep my interest. It's the script that ultimately sunk this movie for me but it's very clear that Ishana Night Shyamalan has real talent behind the camera.

The Watchers was frustrating waste of potential for me and something that never really felt like it capitalised on its intriguing set up. It's just reeks of a script that doesn't trust the intelligence of it's audience and I was just so consistently irritated at how the film kept going out of it's way to explain things in the most clunky and unimaginative ways possible. I can see what Shyamalan was going for, and if anything it makes more interested to read the novel, but her very clear talents just end up being wasted on a really poor script.

I went into this one without watching the trailer and oh boy was I pleasantly surprised. It is not a super scary horror movie. Its more of a folklore horror but what i loved most about this movie is; 1. It quickly gets into the meat of the whole situation/madness 2. The atmosphere is perfect 3. Closer to the end of the movie, when everything makes sense, its a satisfying feeling to get an understanding of whats actually been going on here 4. No blood or gore, and still an good an interesting watch 5. The characters suited their roles perfectly

This i a much much better horror movie than some other overhyped horror movies of 2024. I would definitely recommend this to someone who likes a horror movie with a story and no jumpscares or gore.