Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night Shyamalan who has The Sixth Sense, Split, Signs, and several acclaimed horrors to his credit, made her directorial debut with The Watchers. M. Night Shyamalan who also served the movie as a producer, however, will not be happy with the bombshell critical reaction the Dakota Fanning has received.
What The Watchers Is About?
Dakota Fanning, Olwen Fouéré, Georgina Campbell, and Oliver Finnegan in Ishana Night Shyamalan’s The Watchers. Image Credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Ishana Night Shyamalan followed in the footsteps of her father as she decided to direct the same genre her father had been a master of. Of course, M. Night Shyamalan has directed several remarkable movies and he is widely known for his intricate twists in movies. However, despite following the same cinematic structure as her father, Ishana seemed to fall short of something in her movie to impress critics.
The Watchers follows Mina played by Dakota Fanning, a 28-year-old artist who gets “stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland,” per the synopsis. After finding shelter, she found herself trapped alongside three strangers while being stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
The trailer of the movie created a splash among fans and several fans were excited to witness what Ishana might bring with her ambitious directorial debut but the movie seems to be lost in the same forest as it fails to earn the blessings from the critics.
Ishana Night Shyamalan’s The Watchers Claimed A Disastrous 26% Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Dakota Fanning in Ishana Night Shyamalan’s The Watchers. Image Credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Ishana’s movie was far from impressing critics. Of course, M. Night Shyamalan also had his footing in the series of worst movies in his career including The Last Airbender which has a disappointing 5% score on the review aggregator site. Also, his After Earth, The Happening, and Lady In The Water are all below Ishana’s debut score, 26% based on 57 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Ishana’s debut was very promising with the inherent blessings from her father. Here’s what critics are saying about The Watchers—
“The Watchers doesn’t push anything into truly absurd or terrifying extremes.” — Charles Lyons-Burt, Spectrum Culture.
“The movie has a lot of explaining to do, and it gets in the way of cranking up the kind of relentless tension a film like this should generate in the home stretch.” — Michael Gingold, Rue Morgue Magazine.
“Fanning does her best with an ephemeral half-character and, well, Galway looks nice. So that’s something.” — Kevin Maher, Times (UK).
“Ishana Night Shyamalan is unfortunately shackled by an inability to make her ideas and images coalesce, resulting in a horror movie that’s all bark and very little bite.” — Siddhant Adlakha, Inverse.
“There are plenty of things that go bump in the night. “The Watchers” proves they’re only effective if you don’t sleep through them.” — Odie Henderson, Boston Globe.
“As a director, Ishana Night Shyamalan can compose a compelling shot. As a writer, she does not scratch away layers of exposition and plot to claw at the bones of something bigger, tougher and more recognizably human. The film collapses into gobbledygook.” — Nick Rogers, Midwest Film Journal.
“The entirety of the film feels just that superficially Irish. Nor is there any authenticity to the ecological horror, although there’s plenty of opportunity. But the real issue—as is so often the case in a creature feature—is the monster FX.” — Hope Madden, MaddWolf
The Watchers also stars Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré, Oliver Finnegan, Alistair Brammer, and John Lynch.
The Watchers is now showing in theaters.
