V/H/S/94 segment contributor Chloe Okuno comes to Sundance with her feature debut, Watcher. A young couple move to Bucharest when the husband gets a new job. The wife Julia, played by genre stalwart Maika Monroe, spends much of her time exploring the city. At night she notices a man watching her from across the street. Later while in a cinema, she suspects she is being watched. She leaves only to be followed to the grocery store. Could this be the titular Watcher from across the street? To add even more to the anxiety of the situation, there is a serial killer known as “The Spider” at large.
Perhaps more thriller than horror, though I am never sure where to draw that line, Okuno does a great job of getting the audience into Julia’s emotional and psychological state. This really ranks up the tension and dread as the film progresses. There are of course those Gaslight hallmarks, like when her husband tells her there could be rational explanations for her fears. The man lives in the same neighborhood, makes sense that he would shop in the same store, he explains. There is a confrontation with the Watcher, played by Burn Gorman, wherein he brings the police to her apartment complaining of harassment. Okuno succeeds in showing just how unsafe the world can be for any woman anywhere, which just makes the film more terrifying.
As the film heads toward its resolution it maintains the tension and dread. The ending works and lands okay. I don’t dislike it, but I feel that it somewhat wobbles. It smartly uses elements within its confines in a satisfying way, but I wish it were more unexpected. At the same time, I wouldn’t exactly call the ending predictable. A part of me wonders if the film could move a little faster as well, but I suspect a lot of that well created tension would be sacrificed. Okuno directs well and Watcher is well shot, but Monroe is the strongest ingredient here.
I am tempted to cheekily refer to this as Roman Polanski’s Lost in Translation as told by Nick Roeg, but that is a little misleading. There are certainly Repulsion and Don’t Look Now vibes happening, but I think Okuno has more empathy for her protagonist.
Grade: B-