Watcher

2022 Directed by Chloe Okuno

Horror Marathon 2024 Day 8 Film 17

Julia and Francis move to Francis' home country of Romania. Alone in a country where she barely speaks the language, Julia soon finds herself with this anxious feeling of being watched from a neighbor's window. Further unsettling her state of well being, a serial killer seems to be stalking and killing women in gruesome ways.

There are a lot of film cues to other (more inspired) thrillers- Rear Window from the voyeuristic viewpoint of the apartment, but also to a lot of Polanski's work. Perhaps it's the backdrop of Romania and the small spaced apartments that really set this atmosphere, but whole sections of the movie also feel like Repulsion with how the main character feels the oppressive view of men. Instead of alleviating her feelings all of the men around Julia are dismissive. Even when she confronts the stalker it seems like there may have been a misunderstanding, further leading some questions as to what she's really seeing.

Maika Monroe plays Julia with a dazed vulnerability- not exactly speaking up but whispering her demands and voice cracking. Rather than the Hitchcock blonde where the viewer is invited to idolize them- Julia is always covered in layers of baggy clothing while she walks the streets. This costuming is very specifically pointing to a physical discomfort of the character.

While this feeling of an impending doom feels a lot like Monroe’s role in “It Follows,” the change of having a questionable narrator becomes the driving force of the movie. It doesn’t quite work though, meandering through the mystery with brief parts that exude paranoia. As the finale comes there is a quiet somber moment of heroic catharsis. Sadly it doesn't quite fit the narrative structure of what lead up to that moment.