Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of director, producer, and screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan, makes her directorial debut with “The Watchers”, a supernatural horror film in the same vein as those often made by her famous father. In addition to directing, the also wrote the screenplay which is an adaptation of A. M. Shine’s 2021 novel of the same name. Much like you would expect, “The Watchers” is eerie, tense, and mysterious while also tossing in a few curveballs to keep things interesting. At least for a little while.

With “The Watchers”, Shyamalan weaves psychological and folk horror together into a movie that seems to draw from a number of inspirations. Her use of camera, location, and music are impressive and she’s able to build and sustain some unnerving atmosphere. Where she struggles is in her character work and in landing her finish. She introduces several cool ideas and tries to add emotional depth to our protagonist. But they never quite resonate the way they need too.

Set in western Ireland, Dakota Fanning plays a 28-year-old American named Mina. She’s a lost soul who is still hanging onto the pain of her mother’s death some 15 years earlier. Despite the pleas from her worried sister back in the States, Mina has stayed abroad, settling in Ireland where she works at a small specialty pet shop. Shyamalan introduces some intriguing emotional conflict within Mina that manifests itself in some unusual behavior. But most of that is left unexplored, with the exception of a few brief sequences that don’t really do them justice.

While transporting a rare bird to a zoo in Belfast, Mina finds herself on a winding dirt road deep within a dense, sprawling, and mostly uncharted forest (note: when it a movie never trust a GPS). Suddenly her car and every other electronic device she has goes dead. As is often the case in movies like this, not all of her actions make sense and she soon finds herself on foot and lost with night quickly approaching. Terrifying sounds begin echoing from the shadows. But then Mina spots an older woman named Madeline (Olwen Fouéré) who leads her to a bunker she calls “The Coup”. Inside Mina meets two other strangers, Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan).

Once sealed inside, Madeline has the group of four line up in front of a massive two-way mirror. She explains that each night mysterious yet deadly creatures called Watchers gather on the other side to observe them. We learn the Watchers are nocturnal and retreat into giant holes in the ground during the day. The four can venture outside after sunrise, but must stay inside the Coup when the sun goes down if they want to live. Madeline is clearly the leader. But after several days Mina grows more and more suspicious and begins to challenge Madeline’s strict rules.

Tensions grow, secrets are revealed, and the humans eventually come face-to-face with the creepy ravenous creatures. But the road throughout is full of plot holes and too much is left unexplained, making it difficult to really commit to what we’re seeing. I don’t mind being left with a few questions. But when they’re at the expense of the story’s cohesion, well, it can really bring a movie down. Such is the case with “The Watchers”, a film that starts on a promising note with a cool buildup and some impressive first-time directing. But Shyamalan leaves too many loose ends and there’s not enough of a payoff to help us look past them. “The Watchers” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS