Watcher
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia — a young actress who just moved to town with her husband — notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.
- Released: 2022-06-03
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thrillers
- Stars: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Tudor Petruț, Gabriela Butuc, Madalina Anea, Cristina Deleanu, Bogdan Farcaș, Daniel Nuță, Ioana Abur, Flaviu Crisan, Ștefan Iancu, Florian Ghimpu, Lucian Ionescu, Radu Bunescu, Alexandru Ion, Ciprian Chiriches, Ionut Grama, Simona Pătruleasa, Ioana Hirica, Alice Cora Mihalache, Aida Economu, Andreea Sovan, Adrian Radulescu, Petre Moraru, Marius Cobzariu
- Director: Chloe Okuno
Comments
- Guanche48 - 6 June 2024
Paranoia and reality.
This psychological thriller has a very low rating and it surprises me. I liked it a lot, exciting and tense, with terrifying moments.
The real source of fear is the loneliness and isolation of Julie (Maika Monroe), who's observed by a psychopath, or so she says. Is it paranoia or not? Is she the one following him, or is he the one following and observing her? The fact that there's a serial killer on the loose in town, and one who preys on young women, only adds to her anxiety.
Once this couple arrives in Bucharest, the very little chemistry that exists between the two of them is already there. A 'boring as hell' couple, by the way. The apartment doesn't help either, depressing and dark.
The entire plot from start to finish is very well constructed, and the tension grows and grows. I loved the ending, totally unexpected and left me very satisfied.
Don't miss it, it's a great and very exciting psychological thriller! - funnycommentor - 26 February 2024
This movie deserves more attention!!
First of all, when I first watched the official teaser of the movie I liked it and I had high expectations about it. Eventually, it was as good as I had imagined and I enjoyed it. The plot of the movie was very interesting and mysterious, but not innovative because there are too many movies similar to this one. The storyline was very well-written, well-explained and easy to understand. The characters were interesting, well-developed and kinda likeable. Also, the casting of the movie was great and their performances were excellent. In my opinion, it wasn't a scary movie and there weren't any jumpscares, however it was very creepy sometimes. Moreover, the killcount of the movie was kinda bloody, however there weren't many death scenes and most of them weren't done on-screen. Gladly, the pacing of the movie was excellent and it wasn't boring, at all. The cinematography of the movie was incredible and the score was really good. I have to admit, the ending scene was kinda unpredictable and the 3rd act was so good. Overall, "Watcher" was a nice thriller film, intense, fast-paced and I would definitely recommend it to anyone! - dromasca - 30 December 2023
horror in Bucharest
I was born and raised in Bucharest, on the streets and among the buildings where the story in the thriller 'Watcher' (2022), the debut feature film of director Chloe Okuno, takes place. I can't feel towards this city the emotion of walking in an unknown place that is hiding mysteries and dangers, which is one of the basic premises of this film located between psychological thriller and horror. I can, on the other hand, remember my feelings when I first found myself in places like New York or Chicago. In addition, being fluent in Romanian, I was also losing the effects of the stylistic exercise of the film director who decided not to subtitle the dialogues in Romanian, which represents about half of the dialogues in the film. And yet this simple and effective production, somewhere between Hitchcock and Polanski's films from the American period of his career, with elements of 'Lost in Translation' gave me enough reasons to be glued to my seat and follow the story to the end.
Julia, the heroine in 'Watcher', is a young actress who abandons her career, at least for a while, to accompany her husband, Francis, who got an important job in Bucharest, important enough to keep him busy and away from her most of the days. They are living in an apartment in a building in the busy center of Bucharest. Unlike her husband who speaks Romanian learned from his Romania-born mother, Julia does not speak the language. The city seems foreign and a little hostile to her, and the woman begins to spend much of her time indoors, looking out the window. After a while she notices that a man seemed to be constantly watching her from one of the windows in the front building. Moreover, it seems to her that this man is following her, because she meets him on the streets, in shops, in the subway, at a cinema showing 'Charade', Stanley Donen's classic film in which a woman, played by Audrey Hepburn, is being chased through the streets of Paris. But maybe that man has the same feeling? At some point it is no longer clear who is the pursued and who is the pursuer, who is the observer and who is the observed. Tensions rise when Julie and Francis learn that a serial killer is at work in the neighborhood, killing young women. The relationship between the two young people also begins to be influenced.
The story advances slowly and it is clear the author's intention to gradually and patiently build the tension and emphasize the psychological aspects. The two main characters are Julia and the City. The young woman is played by Maika Monroe, a good casting for this kind of role. The other roles are more schematic and less generous. The look of the film is created by the film director together with the Danish cinematographer Benjamin Kirk Nielsen, who is also working on his first feature film. The two work very well together, building the image of an unsettling, rainy and cold Bucharest, with many dark gangs, dangerous corners, mysterious windows. Carefully designed lighting and camera angles create a sense of danger even in the rather mundane corridors and apartments where much of the story happens. I apreciate the achievement, especially since for me the atmosphere is familiar and many of the streets or buildings where the scenes take place are known to me. The film is spoken in English and Romanian, without subtitles, which probably accentuates the unknown and makes it easier for most viewers to resonate with the main heroine's feelings. All the actors apart from the three lead characters (Francis, Julia and the man who follows her) are Romanian and the whole film is shot on location in Bucharest. The final horror part comes as a logical conclusion of the story, but perhaps there was no need for explicit scenes here either. What is actually scarier than what we can imagine? Chloe Okuno debuts with a film remarkable for the economy of cinematic means and the balanced use of well-learned lessons. A film director worth following in the future. - jadavix - 1 December 2022
Baggy thriller, long-winded and with a non-threatening villain
Few things are more fatal to a thriller than bagginess. Chloe Okuno's movie "Watcher" could have been made, more effectively, in half an hour. Everything else just feels like passing the time, waiting for something to happen.
And very little does. There's not a whole lot to remember about this movie. It's well made, acted and shot, don't get me wrong. It's atmospheric. These pluses open the door for something really shocking or nerve-wracking that never emerges through it.
The main "threat" in the movie never really feels like one. When we see the guy, he seems less dangerous than strange, kind of like Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man". Burn Gorman can convey weirdness but not danger, it seems. Or perhaps the screenplay just doesn't let him really seem like a threat?
I didn't really get why she was so freaked out by him. - cooper-29 - 7 November 2022
Told ya so
Average paint by numbers less than thrilling thriller where main character is being watched and followed, but... no one believes her. So, she cries a lot because she's in a Country where she didn't know the language until She is befriended by her next door neighbor who does know the language. Big surprise. Suddenly she ...disappears. People still don't believe her, until the guy that's been following her commits a murder! Big shock. Boyfriend realizes what we the audience and the main character knew all along. She should have told her less than understanding Boyfriend, "I told ya so." "I toldddd ya Soooo." Ho hum. - RinaBWrites - 15 October 2022
Nothing Groundbreaking, But Worth Watching
I have to admit that I watched this alone in my room after dark, blinds are broken so the window perfectly exposed. There are some issues with the movie, like they had curtains they could've closed. But that wouldn't have changed the fact that she was being watched. She could have made less ambitious decisions, but if she played everything "smart" then we wouldn't have a movie to review. Great visuals, does a great job keeping the viewer anxious and paranoid. It's probably nothing you haven't seen before, but it's still got enough creep factor to deserve a watch. Definitely not something I'd watch again, but it was well done.
