Overall as harsh as I have been about this movie I did enjoy most of the story that it presented. However, I would not watch this movie again. It felt too cheesy and completely unbelievable. This was due to the underwhelming acting, awkward cinemaphotography and wrong tone. If you want a film that people can talk through and enjoy themselves, this would be the one to watch.
Despite the intriguing title and ominous synopsis, The Watcher in the Woods left much to be desired. The two main stars Anjelica Huston and Tallulah Evans stand out as veterans when compared to the parents in the movie, Rufus Wright and Melanie Gutteridge. The plot of the film kept me entertained, but on the other hand, there were several moments where you couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer poor quality of production. I have seen several lifetime movies in my time, and none of them are ever stellar productions, but some aspects of this movie were downright wrong.
Let’s dive straight into what I thought was the weakest part of the acting. As stated before Anjelica Huston and Tallulah Evans were the saving grace of this performance. You could see the emotion in their reactions. One could also rationalize most of their decisions throughout the movie. On the exact opposite the parents of the film couldn’t be less believing or understandable. Their performance as a whole, especially, the father felt emotionless and fake. At one point the mother says “don’t talk to your father this summer,” with almost a smile and then the scene was over. Nicholas Galitzine, who plays Tallulah’s love interest during the movie, had some nice moments of very believable acting and showed promising highlights. Overall the acting in the movie did not draw one in like this movie needed to. The actors lacked the overall fear and true emotions needed to pull off this “horror” film.
One of the things that stood out the most was the cinemaphotography and special effects. As one could gather this movie takes place near the woods. This was almost a fault of the film due to the fact that the filmmakers took every opportunity to shoot from behind foliage. When done right this can add to the element of fear to make you believe that something is actually there and watching. The Watcher in the Wood does this to a flaw to where most of the scene cannot be seen. Along with the overuse of action shots. At one point in the movie, they waste a 10-second cut to show the perspective of a bee buzzing towards the house. This scene was incredibly distracting and offered nothing to the films overall tone or plot. At one point the movement was so round and round that I felt I was about to get car sick. Then comes the special effects. I know that out of this world special effects cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if not much more but there is something to be said about how bad an overlaid portal and an Instagram filter. Additionally, at one point you could not tell if the daughter was seeing a vision or if this was real life. In that exact scene, there is this porch light that looks as if they decided it needed to be added in special effects.
The tone of the movie wasn’t what I expected. For a horror thriller, I was disappointed on both fronts. This movie missed the mark when it came to achieving both goals. Even when the film reached its full arch, I was not at all caught up in the story or felt the thrill. Even worse so the film cannot be called horror. There wasn’t any type of scare factor, not even the music could jumpstart a thrill. This also comes from a person who doesn’t watch scary movies because he probably would sleep for a week.
Overall as harsh as I have been about this movie I did enjoy most of the story that it presented. However, I would not watch this movie again. It felt too cheesy and completely unbelievable. This was due to the underwhelming acting, awkward cinemaphotography and wrong tone. If you want a film that people can talk through and enjoy themselves, this would be the one to watch.
