Do you ever have the feeling that someone’s watching you? You don’t know for certain who it is or why, but you can’t shake the feeling that a pair of eyes is watching your every move.
It’s a creepy feeling, one that’s all too faithfully replicated in the movie Watcher, Chloe Okuno’s unsettling horror thriller about a woman being watched, stalked and harassed by an unknown person. The 2022 film received decent reviews when it was first released, but not enough people have experienced it.
That should change with its recent arrival on Netflix, a streamer that’s lately put a spotlight on genre fare that’s been ignored in the past. Here are a few reasons why you should stream Watcher on Netflix right now.
The Story Is Intriguing
A woman waves while looking out a window in Watcher. IFC Films
At first glance, Julia (Maika Monroe) seems to have it made. She has a loving husband, Francis (Karl Glusman), and a gorgeous apartment in downtown Bucharest, Romania, which gives her a nice view of all the old buildings in their neighborhood. When Francis begins to work longer hours, Julia becomes bored and starts to spy on her neighbors across the street. Most of them aren’t even home, but one night, she sees the faint outline of a man in his apartment who appears to be watching her.
Gradually, she realizes this man has been watching her not just in her apartment, but all over the city: on the streets outside her place, in a supermarket, and even in a movie theater. Julia becomes increasingly alarmed as she hears reports of a serial killer nicknamed “The Spider” roaming around the city. Is she being stalked by “The Spider”? Or is this watcher, who no one can really see except for her, a product of her imagination triggered by boredom?
For a good chunk of the movie, Watcher maintains this intriguing ambiguity to great effect, and keeps you guessing whether Julia is truly delusional or eerily observant. And while the ending isn’t as ambiguous, and includes some shocking violence that seems more at home in a traditional horror film, the movie still accomplishes its goal of creating a sense of danger about the unknown. You don’t know where it’s going, and for most of its runtime, you’re afraid to find out.
Europe Never Looked So Dreamy … and Frightening
A woman looks at a man on stairs in Watcher. IFC Films
Like most low-budget movies, Watcher makes excellent use of its locations. Shot in Bucharest, a city that doesn’t usually show up in a film like this one, Watcher feels like it takes place in a dream state that mirrors Julia’s status as an American expatriate away from her home country and a wife being neglected by her busy husband.
The director, Chloe Okuno, spends the majority of the film following her solitary heroine around as she explores her adopted city. And while the city is beautiful, it’s also strangely empty and shadowy. You get the feeling that anyone might be lurking just around the corner or on the edge of your peripheral vision. It’s that sense of unease that makes Watcher incredibly effective as both a horror film (it’s genuinely scary) and as a portrait of a woman who could be going mad.
‘Watcher’ Proves Maika Monroe is a Millennial Scream Queen
Watcher isn’t lead star Maika Monroe’s first time at the horror rodeo. The actress first gained fame in the cult creeper hit It Follows in 2015, and has since come back to the genre with under-the-radar gems like 2018’s Greta and 2019’s Villains. But Watcher is probably her best movie yet, and that’s because it showcases her core strengths as an actress.
There’s a key scene in Watcher where Monroe’s character is in a nearly empty movie theater when she realizes the man who’s been watching her from afar is possibly sitting a few feet behind her. It’s a chilling moment, and Monroe communicates multiple things at once: uncertainty, fear, panic and the desperate urge to flee.
Her Julie isn’t a screaming Final Girl, though; she’s plagued by doubt, sure, but she’s also guided by common sense. Some of that is in the script, but it also stems from Monroe, and she makes Watcher watchable, even when it occasionally stumbles in its messy climax.
Netflix may be the home to such big-budget misfires as The Electric State with Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, but it also platforms lesser-known movies like Watcher and exposes them to a wider audience. The movie hasn’t cracked the streamer’s top 10 yet, but just like its titular boogeyman, it has a funny way of creeping up on you.
Watcher is streaming on Netflix.
