Can't Stop Thinking About 'Obsession'? Then Watch This Chilling Thriller With a 'Longlegs' Star
It makes you feel exactly what the main character feels: helplessness, suspicion, and an ever-growing certainty that you are being watched.
If you were captivated by the unsettling atmosphere of the recent premiere of Obsession, you should check out Watcher. This psychological thriller stars Maika Monroe, who appeared in It Follows and Longlegs.
This slow, oppressive, and incredibly tense movie explores female paranoia, language barriers, and loneliness in a foreign land.
Director Chloe Okuno's debut received critical acclaim at the Sundance and Sitges film festivals, and viewers hailed it as one of the most underrated horror flicks in recent years.
What Is 'Watcher' About?
Julia, an aspiring actress, gives up her career ambitions for her husband, who has been offered a promotion that requires them to move to Bucharest – but her new home doesn't welcome her with open arms.
The language barrier makes it difficult for her to communicate with the locals, and her perpetually busy husband spends his days and nights at work. The dreary loneliness of the large, industrial city is shattered by a sudden murder: a decapitated woman is found in the neighborhood where Julia and her husband live.
Around this time, Julia begins to notice a frightening shadow of a man watching her from the window across the street. Her husband doesn't believe her, and the police attribute her fears to an anxiety disorder.
'Watcher' Is a Slow Descent Into Paranoia With a Brilliant Performance From Maika Monroe
Watcher impacts viewers on a purely perceptual level. The movie slowly but surely immerses us in the paranoid reality of its main character, who experiences a variety of symptoms of an anxiety disorder, ranging from apathy to nightmares.
Maika Monroe, already a proven talent in the horror genre, delivers perhaps the best performance of her career here. Her character is not the classic final girl from slasher films but a vibrant, weary, and very real person.
Watcher is a smart, tense, and genuinely frightening thriller that proves the scariest monsters don't require elaborate special effects – sometimes a window across the street will suffice.
What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'Watcher'?
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Watcher has 88% from critics and 67% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.
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On IMDb, the movie has a score of 6.3/10.
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On Letterboxd, Watcher scored 3.3/5.0.
Where to Stream 'Watcher'?
Watcher is available to stream on AMC+, Shudder, and Philo.
