The Watchers is a supernatural horror film that has some interesting concepts and moments; however, it is another one that just fails to really stand out in the genre.

Ishana Night Shyamalan has written and directed this film, which is based on a novel written by A.M. Shine. Dakota Fanning is in the lead and is joined by a pretty talented cast which includes Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere, Oliver Finnegan, and John Lynch.

Mina is an American living in Ireland, which is a situation I kind of envy. She has carried considerable guilt about the circumstances of her mother’s death which occurred fifteen years previously. She works in some exotic animal establishment and is asked to deliver a rare sort of parrot to Belfast. Mina somehow ends up on a route which takes her through a dense forest, and her car breaks down. While wandering in the forest, Mina encounters an older woman who leads her to a bunker building where two other people are residing. There is a large, mirrored window. During the night, creatures emerge from the tress to observe this little group. They are allowed to leave the Coop during the day but must return by nightfall or some unpleasantness would be afoot. Of course, living this way indefinitely is not what Mina has in mind, so a daring escape is planned once some questions are answered regarding the origin of the Coop.

Ishana Night is the daughter of long-time horror director M. Night Shyamalan, and the family resemblance apparently carries over into directing styles. Much like I have noted about M. Night’s film, the initial concepts are compelling, but somehow the execution doesn’t quite impress as much as I hope. Ishana does little to make her effort more distinct from her father’s style of filmmaking. The performances were somewhat interesting. Dakota Fanning is the only one on the cast I recognized immediately. I don’t mind that because I sort of like coming across actors that don’t have that immediate name recognition. There are some diamonds in the rough among that group of actors. I think the cast is talented enough, but I am not sure this project makes the best use of that talent.

The visual effects were pretty good, but that’s not hard for these studios to do these days.

I think Ishana has some potential. Despite my reservations about this film, I have seen worse, and I was genuinely interested to see what would happen next. The film has a rather peculiar and messy resolution, but I didn’t find everything about it to be irredeemable. Ishana may just need some experience and willingness to come out with something that would feel different from her father’s works.

I believe Ishana Night Shyamalan could be a good director and writer, but she may need to be more discerning about her future projects. This could just be one of the clearest examples of the novel likely being much better than what we got on screen.