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What is The Watchers about?
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How does The Watchers end?
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Was there a set-up for a sequel?
Ishana Shyamalan makes her directorial debut with the horror thriller, The Watchers, and it stars Dakota Fanning as a young artist who gets stranded in a forest in western Ireland, and meets three strangers and they all get stalked by a group of mysterious creatures.
The movie was released by Warner Bros in theaters on June 7, and has had mixed reviews from fans and critics, and it has only grossed a lackluster $11 million at the worldwide box office so far. The Watchers is based on the novel of the same name by A. M. Shine, and it co-stars Tarot actress, Olwen Fouere, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Alistair Brammer and John Lynch.
What is The Watchers about?
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The Watchers |
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Starring |
Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere, Oliver Finnegan, Alistair Brammer and John Lynch |
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Written By |
Ishana Shyamalan Based on the book by A. M. Shine |
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Directed By |
Ishana Shyamalan |
Mina (Fanning) is a young artist living in Ireland with a tortured past, after losing her mother in a car accident when she was a child. She decides to head off into the forest with her pet parrot, but finds herself stranded when her car breaks down. She wanders aimlessly through the forest until she stumbles upon a woman called Madeline (Fouere) who takes her into a peculiar room for safety.
Don’t die now
Mina meets Ciara (Campbell) and Daniel (Finnegan), who also reside in the room, and the group tell her about the mysterious creatures who watch over them, keeping them trapped and forcing them to follow certain rules to survive.
As time goes by, Mina becomes determined to find out what’s going on and escape the Watchers. She discovers a secret bunker beneath the room, and encourages Ciara, Daniel and Madeline to join her to investigate it. The group find a bunch of recordings of Professor Kilmartin (Lynch), who was researching the Watchers.
Turns out, Kilmartin discovered the creatures were fairies and changelings known from Irish folklore who have the ability to morph into people. Once upon a time, the creatures lived peacefully alongside humans until a war broke out and the creatures were banished to the forest. The Watchers became resentful towards humans, so they began trapping those who ventured into their woods.
How does The Watchers end?
The group finally discover a route to escape the forest, and head towards the river, where they find a boat to take them to safety. However, as they are leaving, Daniel sees Ciara’s dead husband, and is tricked into helping him, only for him to transform into one of the creatures and kill him. Mina, Ciara and Madeline head off on the boat, unable to help Daniel, as the creatures watch on as they escape.
Mina, Ciara and Madeline spot a bus on their return to shore and flag it down, and it takes them back home. Ciara visits the university where Kilmartin taught, and enters his office, determined to destroy his work so nobody else will make the same mistake of looking into the Watchers.
In The Watchers big twist, Mina learns the truth that Madeline had actually been a Watcher the whole time, and had taken on the form of the Professor’s dead wife. Turns out, Kilmartin had managed to trap Madeline, which is how she originally found her human form. But, Madeline killed Kilmartin while they were still in the underground bunker.
Mina visits Ciara to tell her about everything, but it is revealed that the Ciara she sees is actually Madeline in disguise. The real Ciara turns up at the house, and there is a fight between Mina and Madeline, who has knocked the real Ciara unconscious. There is a revelation that Madeline is something known as a halfling, which basically means one of her parents was a human. Madeline claims she was banished by the Watchers, and Mina encourages her to find more of her kind and leave them alone. Madeline decides to let Mina and Ciara live and goes in search of more halflings in the world.
The movie ends with Mina reuniting with her twin sister as she begins to forgive herself for causing the car accident that led to their mother’s death. Mina says that she often sees Madeline taking the form of other people, and during her meeting with her twin sister, a little girl is seen outside their location, and it is revealed to be Madeline taking on the human form of the girl.
Was there a set-up for a sequel?
A.M. Shine has written a follow-up book to The Watchers that will be released later this year called Stay in the Light, and it’ll take place after the events of The Watchers. A potential sequel is set to follow Mina as she tries to stop the Watchers’ power from growing as people she knows and loves start to go missing.
A sequel to M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter’s debut movie hasn’t been announced yet, and Warner Bros will decide whether to follow it up based on how well it does at the box office. The early signs are not good as it hasn’t had a great opening, but things could change as the weeks and months go on. Thefilm currently has a low Rotten Tomatoes score of only 29%, and an audience score of 53%.
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