The Watchers trailer breakdown: 5 key takeaways

M. Night Shyamalan is at it once again, albeit only as a producer. Warner Bros. recently released the first trailer for the upcoming supernatural thriller The Watchers. The movie boasts of a talented cast, starring the likes of Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, and Olwen Fouére, and is set to be released on June 7, 2024. It is also the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.

Inspired by the epic The Watchers novel by A.M. Shine, the movie's trailer was recently released, giving fans the first peek into the horror-filled journey that awaits them. Set in Western Ireland, the movie will revolve around a 28-year-old artist, Mina, who gets stranded in an untouched forest filled with supernatural horrors.

The trailer promised a range of notable features and gave fans plenty to be excited about. Here, we look at the five most notable takeaways from the epic trailer.

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The Watchers trailer breakdown: 5 obvious takeaways

#1 Intriguing plot

The success of the novel and the 2-minute trailer was enough to inform fans of the intriguing nature of the plot. While the trailer did not give fans a look at the monsters that will be involved, it was able to expose the epic nature of the plot.

Fanning was seen trying to get to the bottom of the phenomena and explained that the ‘Watchers’ in question travel from another dimension to watch people while they sleep. The trailer promised a plot filled with mystery, intrigue, and some good old horror and is bound to excite fans.

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#2 A talented cast

The trailer itself did not particularly delve into the mystery or the lore surrounding the novel. However, it gave fans plenty of looks into the talented cast, which, apart from the starring Dakota Fanning, also includes the likes of Georgina Campbell and Olwen Fouére.

The unique nature of the plot means that, unlike most horror flicks, The Watchers might not use good-old scare jumps. Instead, the trailer employed the use of deafening scores and intriguing mysteries to make for a compelling watch.

This also means that the cast will get plenty of opportunities to showcase their skills, which was also apparent in the trailer.

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#3 An unsettling voice

Much like her father, Ishana Shyamalan appears to have focussed on intriguing plot details and an uneasiness-filled direction technique to portray the mysterious nature of The Watchers. The trailer showed that the movie aims to keep its monsters in the dark, giving way to an unsettling voice bound to give anyone the creeps.

The trailer followed an unorthodox technique, which might be particularly orthodox for the Shyamalan family. It did not give much away but generated enough intrigue to make viewers buy into the obvious horror elements set to take center stage in the actual release.

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#4 M. Night Shyamalan’s directing technique is obvious

While M. Night may have only been listed as a producer, there is little doubt that he has greatly influenced his daughter’s filmmaking. The trailer, despite being one for an obvious horror flick, also included a suspense-filled element bound to result in high anticipation.

Renowned for his ability to portray mundane happenings in extremely unsettling and graphic ways, it is clear that The Watchers’ director has taken plenty of inspiration from her father. Whether the movie also reaches the kind of heights that M. Night’s projects have done in the past remains to be seen.

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#5 A complement to the source material

Fans of The Watcher novel will be more than aware of the expansive source material accompanying the book with respect to the monsters featured in the movie. Like the novel, it appears as though the trailer aimed to keep an air of mystery with respect to their physical look.

While upcoming trailers might change that, the inspiration from the source material is obvious right from the beginning of the trailer. Set in the same region as the original story, The Watchers can also be expected to be an ode to its epic source material.

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The Warner Bros. offering is set to hit theaters on June 7, 2024.