While Ishana Night Shyamalan absolutely is her own filmmaker, and should her films judged on their own merits, The Watchers reminded me a lot of her fathers works in the ways that I usually find his films frustrating. I'm going to try my best not to keep comparing this to M. Night's movies but in particular The Watchers reminded me a lot of The Village and the issues I have with that film and I think I'd still feel that way with or without the familial connection.

Because like The Village, The Watchers has a very intriguing hook that presents a lot of interesting story possibilities very early on but it never capitalises on them in any satisfying way. The dialogue is really weak here and it's frequently delivered in extremely wooden ways which most rears its head in the exposition. Because Shyamalan clearly doesn't believe in the less-is-more approach in that she feels the need to over explain everything and as a result the mystery never really feels that intriguing. Most of the reveals come across as very flat that feel like they lack sufficient build up to be satisfying.

It's also very repetitive for most of the first 2 acts with it essentially following the same stricture of leaving this house and returning to it before night fall and it just came across as tiring rather tension-building. The reveals don't really feel earned and they're the one thing I wanted the film to explore more but the script really feels like it strikes the worst balance with what it chooses to focus on. The 3rd act was also a pretty big disappointment. The main action that's being built up for the entire film is achieved in a fairly standard way that doesn't feel fitting for what was being set up and it makes the mistake of feeling like it's getting ready to end only to go on for what felt like another 30 minutes.

Thankfully what saves the film from being a complete waste of time is the truly impressive filmmaking on display. It's gorgeously shot and visually ambitious in a way that feels like it could only come from a first-time director. I thought the score was phenomenal as was the cinematography in a way that didn't feel like it was drawing too much attention to itself. There are some very effective scares and genuine scenes of tension, unfortunately it was just never sustained enough to keep my interest. It's the script that ultimately sunk this movie for me but it's very clear that Ishana Night Shyamalan has real talent behind the camera.

The Watchers was frustrating waste of potential for me and something that never really felt like it capitalised on its intriguing set up. It's just reeks of a script that doesn't trust the intelligence of it's audience and I was just so consistently irritated at how the film kept going out of it's way to explain things in the most clunky and unimaginative ways possible. I can see what Shyamalan was going for, and if anything it makes more interested to read the novel, but her very clear talents just end up being wasted on a really poor script.

The Watchers is a fun movie to watch with friends. I feel that a common problem people now have about movies is that you think that if it is not a cinematic masterpiece it's a terrible movie.

The acting wasn't great but not bad. I felt the leads were pretty good to.

The story was actually a good idea and I liked that part as well.

Overall scare was really just an meh. Not scary at all to me. It was more of a thriller than a horror. I was hoping to be scared but I wasn't. I would say the scare was equal to A Quiet Place.

I would actually recommend this movie. It was fun and i was intrigued the whole film.

"The Watchers" provides an interesting premise at face value. Horror movies that involve a twist on folk stories accompanied with an eerie location usually pair well together and in this case, it does.

Ishana Night Shyamalan's directorial debut is one to be proud of. You can clearly see sprinkles of her father's style imbedded in the film but also boasts her own unique vision.

In regards to the plot, the story is interesting enough to keep you invested throughout the duration. It reveals just enough to ask questions but not enough to give them away.

The design of the "Watchers" is the highlight of the film. Without spoiling too much, every time they were on screen I was fully engrossed. Enough was shown of them that made me wanting to see more.

The worst unfortunately, are the characters which were one dimensional and lacking realism. They acted in ways no human would in this situation, especially the lead. A good horror movie requires realistic and likeable characters to vouch for. "The Watchers" struggled to create such.

As most horrors unfortunately do, "The Watchers" does have some moments that I found a bit silly. Moments where you ask yourself "why would she do that" or "why did that happen like that". Such moments didn't help the film.

I was skeptical towards the beginning on the film, thinking that it would meander in its plot and ultimately be repetitive. However, as the film progressed and its locations changed it kept the story fresh and wanting more. The ending boarded on lacklustre however, I didn't mind that it didn't get too ridiculous and over the top. Felt more realistic and poignant.

Overall, a decent debut film that highlighted a fresh look at folk-lore. The frustrating characters and some silly moments did prevent it from being great. 6.4/10 for me.