Watcher [Blu-ray]

Director: Chloe Okuno Chloe Okuno

Overview

A young woman named Julia (Maika Monroe) makes a fresh start in a new apartment building with her doting fianc?. Yet what should be the start of an exciting journey only crumbles under the weight of paranoia and unease as Julia grows increasingly worried that an unknown voyeur watches her every move in the neighboring building. Chloe Okuno writes and directs this thriller co-starring Karl Glusman and Burn Gorman.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/04/2022
UPC:	0014381150476
Original Release:	2022
Rating:	R
Source:	Ifc
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	11,527

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Maika Monroe	Julia
Karl Glusman	Francis
Burn Gorman	Watcher/Weber
Tudor Petrut	Taxi Driver
Gabriela Butuc	Flavia
Madalina Anea	Irina
Cristina Deleanu	Eleonora
Bogdan Farcas	Neighbor
Daniel Nuta	Cristian
Ioana Abur	Simion's Wife
Flaviu Crisan	Simion
Stefan Iancu	Store Worker
Florian Ghimpu	Officer Radu
Lucian Ionescu	Maintenance Worker
Radu Bunescu	Ticket Taker
Alexandru Ion	Nicolae
Ciprian Chiriches	Waiter
Ionut Grama	Club Employee
Simona Patruleasa	Female News Anchor
Ioana Hirica	Flower Vendor
Alice Cora Mihalache	Cashier
Aida Economu	Lucia
Andreea Sovan	Female Victim
Adrian Radulescu	Kiosk Seller
Petre Moraru	Old Man
Marius Cobzariu	Bouncer
Otilia Panainte	Onlooker Woman
Ruslan Vieru	Weber's Double #1
Ioana Farcas	Wife
Mircea Bujoreanu	Homeless Man
Cosmina-Georgiana Stefanoaia	Dancer #1
Florina-Izabela Stancu	Dancer #2
Georgiana-Ioana Radu	Dancer #3
Victor Neagu	Teenager Smoking
Izabela Popescu	Young Couple #1
Edoard Leroy	Young Couple #2
Marian Iordachescu	Drunkman
Nucu Stangaciu	Movie Goer Grumbling
Daniela Druga	Elderly Woman
Coca Zibilianu	Old Woman
Nicolae Ivanescu	Old Husband
Alin Rosu	TV Reporter
Marin Gheorghe	Aetheneum Caretaker
Ciubuciu Bogdan Alexandru	Young Man
Vlad Balan	Teenager
Corina Ciontu	Woman Couple #1
Bogdan Mohora	Policeman #1
Iulian Nica	Policeman #2
Eduard-Florin Lazar	Policeman #3
Catalin Cnej	Policeman #4
Nicusor Gaureanu	Paramedic #1
Paul Dumitrescu	Paramedic #2
Gregory Chater	Detective

Technical Credits

Chloe Okuno

Zack Ford

Chloe Okuno	Director,Screenwriter
Zack Ford	Screenwriter
Gabi Antal	Executive Producer
James Hoppe	Executive Producer
Stuart Manashil	Executive Producer
Ben Ross	Executive Producer
Rami Yasin	Executive Producer
Derek Dauchy	Producer
John Finemore	Producer
Aaron Kaplan	Producer
Roy Lee	Producer
Mason Novick	Producer
Sean Perrone	Producer
Steven Schneider	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Director Chloe Okuno dials up the suspense in her moody and atmospheric directorial debut, Watcher. The film focuses on the minute, unsettling things that someone may encounter that turns their stomach but may cause others to think they're overreacting. As the story progresses, these subtly creepy things become more and more menacing and apparent. Lead by strong acting that elevates the movie from Maika Monroe, Watcher has moviegoers on the edge of their seats trying to figure out what is going on. This film follows Julia (Maika Monroe) and Francis (Karl Glusman) as the couple moves to Bucharest, Romania due to Francis's job. Mainly through Julia's eyes, we see how life is like for now that she had moved from New York to Romania. She tries to make the adjustment, but she does not know the language, or that there is a murderer on the loose known as "The Spider." She is largely left alone throughout the film as Francis is stuck late at work most nights. Julia looks out her window one night and notices a man staring back at her from the apartment across the street. The next day she catches a movie at a local cinema only to have someone sit directly behind her and lean forward and start breathing on her neck. She leaves the theater to go to the local grocery store only to realize that this man has followed her there. With this being the jumping off point, Julia must deal with skepticism from her husband, police, and her neighbors. Watcher has many things that work for it. The location of Bucharest seems like a perfect place for this film to be set. It gives the viewers the same alone feeling that Julia experiencing, being in a new place thousands of miles from home. With many tertiary characters speaking Romanian, Okuna made a stylistic choice of not including subtitles, so that the viewer is receiving some of the information secondhand, adding to the paranoia. Also, the acting in this is quite good, especially coming from Monroe. Her anxiety was palpable, and throughout the film, it is evident that her character's mental state is on the decline as she becomes consumed by the man watching her through the window. She has also been in her fair share of horror films (It Follows, Tau) and in the horrific scenes of the movie, her facial expressions come across as highly authentic. There are some aspects of the film to take issue with, one of those being the story in general. Watcher relies on the suspense generated from moments that, without the score, aren't necessarily as menacing as one is led to believe. For a while, these feel like casual encounters, and it seems they happen coincidentally. As the movie goes along, one couldn't help but feel that a scene or two with the "watcher" could have helped these moments carry more emotional weight. Another thing with the story is that there are not any twists or turns and after about the first 25 minutes, some predictability creeps in. Watcher doesn't do anything to reinvent the suspense or horror genre, but it is a solid 90-minute movie that does raise the hairs on the back of your neck.