WATCHER (2022)

Written & Directed By: Chloe Okuno
Based on a Screenplay By: Zack Ford 
Cinematography: Benjamin Kirk Nielsen 
Editor: Michael Block 

Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea, Daniel Nuta, Stefan Iancu 

A young American woman moves with her husband to Bucharest and begins to suspect that a stranger who watches her from the apartment building across the street may be a local serial killer decapitating women.


The film offers no real thrills or chills. Though it looks great visually. 

The film never lived up to the potential that it seems to set up. Though it finally comes alive in the final 15 minutes. Which is when we believe it is over. Then it seems determined to try and surprise us finally.

The ending feels a bit tacked on in the final Minutes. Downtrodden and stronger but killer wouldn’t be able to get away. As this has to make sense or have a payoff for sitting through all of this.

It’s a consistently sad film though nothing throughout makes you care or endears her to the audience other than she is the protagonist and a human being. 

As the film plays heavily into the cliche belief that the lead is seeing things or losing her mind rather then what she sees’s being real and believed. So that it almost plays like a drama more than anything. 

As the film immersed us in her situation and world which is foreign to her and us.

This feels like a Brian DePalma movie without the inventive cinematography 

Though if you are a fan of actress Makia Monroe, we are with her through most of the film. Plenty of shots of her looking beautiful her wardrobe was immaculate 

This is more of a film you gaze at that could be played in the background. You would study it for its Look and shots. Nothing much of note happens.

It does offer up that common fear of being a stranger in a strange land and being alone. Yet when you should feel safe not truly feel that way. As there is always a creepy element or even a person who personifies that feeling. No matter how lavish the surrounding.

In the end, it’s a little predictable and pretty traditional. While there is something special here in its sharp direction. It never rises to the greatness it could have been. Even with an ending that tries to make up for all the slower pace in the beginning.

Grade: C+

IT FOLLOWS (2015)

ITFOLLOWS

Written & Directed By David Robert Mitchell
Cinematography By: Mike Gioulakis
Editor: Julio Perez IV 

Cast: Maika Monroe, Kier Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Jake Weary, Daniel Zovatto, Bailey Spry, Claire Sloma

For nineteen-year-old Jay, Autumn should be about school, boys and week-ends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.

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THE GUEST (2014)

Theguest

Directed By: Adam Wingard
Written By: Simon Barrett
Cinematography By: Roddy Baumgartner
Music By: Steve Moore 


Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Sheila Kelly, Leland Orser, Joel David Moore, Ethan Embry, Brendan Meyer, Lance Reddick, AJ Bowen

A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

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