'Watcher' resembles most variations of Hitchcock's 'Rear Window'. But, unlike them, it does not turn out to be a secondary empty shell, but cleverly uses genre clichés to tell a simple yet compelling story that gives you goosebumps.

Having gained experience working on the 'V/H/S' series, director Chloe Okuno made her debut with the paranoid horror-thriller 'Watcher'. Voluntarily confining herself to the constraints of a genre exercise in the style of 'Rear Window', the filmmaker demonstrated that even under such conditions, one can, if not squeeze out the maximum, then create a work worthy of the audience's attention.

The Man in the House Opposite the Girl in the Window

A young couple — Francis (Karl Glusman) and Julia (Maika Monroe) — move from America to Romania due to the husband's promotion. While Francis is constantly away at work, Julia feels increasingly lonely and uneasy in the new place. At some point, she begins to think that a strange man from the neighboring house is watching her. And just then, the news reports a recent brutal murder of a girl in the area where Francis and Julia have settled...

The plot setup is not brimming with originality. From the first minutes, it becomes clear that the director will start a game with the audience of 'guess where reality is and where paranoia is'. And so it happens. But you'll agree that we love this game, especially when the conditions and rules are well-defined. And this is exactly that case!

Maika Monroe, who was called the new 'scream queen' back in the days of 'It Follows', convincingly plays the role of a girl confident in her rightness despite the skepticism of those around her in the film 'Watcher'. Although a couple of twists are prepared for the viewers, which from time to time drastically change the optics of perceiving what is happening on the screen. What if it's Julia who is watching the man next door?!

Stylish Framing of a Paranoid Atmosphere

'Watcher' is, first and foremost, an actor's film. A film that relies entirely on the talents of Maika Monroe and her supporting cast Karl Glusman and Burn Gorman. But Chloe Okuno did not limit herself to providing her artists with space to play out anxious and paranoid moods. Enlisting the support of cinematographer Benjamin Kirk Nielsen, she created one of the most visually appealing films of the year.

The compositional construction of the frame, the play with light and color accents — all this allows you to immerse yourself even deeper into the film's atmosphere and, for an hour and a half, plunge into the story of a pursued (or not) girl, which can send shivers down the spine of the most impressionable viewers by the end.

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