A gritty thriller exposing lies and dark secrets in Bucharest, where brave actions define survival.
What fascinates one?
Early in 2022, Netflix shocked viewers with Watcher, a tense thriller that shot straight into the top 10 on the platform shortly after its February 25 release.
Maika Monroe (renowned for her performances in It Follows and Longlegs) plays Julia, an American expat who goes to Bucharest to meet her lover, Francis, only to be thrown into a world where nothing is as it appears.
Someone else lurking in the shadows?
Julia starts to become uncomfortable almost right away after moving in as her neighbor appears to be staring at her every night.
His repeated visits aggravate her concern whether they are at her apartment window or elsewhere about town.
She begs desperately to Francis and the local police, but both ignore her warnings as paranoia, therefore isolating her even more.
Could risk be nearer than first seems?
Julia struggles with the disturbing attention as tales of a well-known serial murderer called the Spider abound.
With a terrifying method—stalking his victims before breaking into their houses to cut their heads—the news of his imprisonment does not help to allay her fears.
Julia’s senses warn her that something sinister is playing out in the night even amid a lavish work celebration with Francis.
What signals break the false sense of security?
The tension rises as Julia runs into her tenacious subway neighbor.
The terrible finding of a supermarket bag hiding the faint form of a human head swiftly undermines his lazy effort at discounting her worries.
Terrified, she runs to her apartment only to discover more disturbing signals: the door of Irina’s neighbor’s apartment is ominously ajar, and within the grisly remnants of a decapitated corpse confirm her darkest suspicions.
Does the horror have a secret?
Julia tries to flee in the heart-stopping end of the movie, packing quickly as her intuition tells her danger is closer than it has ever been.
Her creepy neighbor at Irina’s empty apartment confronts her, and after a violent attack she passes out.
The action veers unexpectedly as she comes to: Francis shows there and a stray gunshot fired during the frantic battle hits the murderer.
Julia comes alive in a last revelation; her manufactured death gives her vital seconds to grab a concealed pistol, shocking Francis.
Her cold stare emphasizes the film’s more general themes of sexism and the rejection of women’s voices as well as the end of a relationship tarnished by doubt and treachery.
Quick Facts: Watcher
- Expat Julia from Bucharest feels a terrible presence.
- A strange neighbor turns become both stalker and suspect.
- A merciless serial murderer, The Spider threads horror across the city.
- To fool her attacker, Julia pretends to die.
- The movie honors raw resilience and questions sexist dismissiveness.