New horror movie The Watchers comes from a director whose family name you know, but whose filmmaking style you'll see for the first time on the big screen: Ishana Night Shyamalan.
One of three daughters of renowned director M. Night Shyamalan and his wife Bhavna, Ishana is the only other film-maker (so far) in her family. Her father, of course, has been a big influence: from encouraging a love of horror to providing training grounds on his own sets. While studying at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts — where her parents first met — she directed episodes of his Apple TV+ show Servant. Now Ishana Shyamalan is making her own feature debut with The Watchers, an adaptation she wrote of A.M. Shine's 2022 novel of the same name.
Set in an eerie Irish forest, the story follows Mina (Dakota Fanning), a troubled American working at a pet shop. When her car breaks down, she gets lost in the woods. Mina thinks she's saved when she finds three others, but soon learns that they are all trapped. Every night they lock themselves in a one-way mirror structure, forced to perform for invisible supernatural creatures who watch their every move. In true Shyamalan fashion, the ending packs several reveals.
Q It's not too surprising that you became a horror fan very young. Did your dad tell you and your sisters scary stories?
A Yeah, so my elder sister [R&B singer Saleka] and I shared a room, we were in these two little twin beds. For the majority of our childhood, he would tell us bedtime stories — these incredibly elaborate stories that would go on for weeks at a time. We'd listen to them every night and cry when he said the chapter was over.
Being primed for the horror genre, we were sort of inundated with so much of it as kids. It taught me that there can be enjoyment and a lot of emotional depth in the process of feeling scared. It's not necessarily something to run from, but maybe something to lean into a bit more.
Q What were some of your favourite horror stories?
A I was deeply into all the classic horror movies. The Ring was a big one for me. The Exorcist. The Omen. I was always reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, that was my favourite book as a kid.
Q Your dad is known for the twist endings of his films, and The Watchers also unravels with surprises, especially towards the end. What goes into the art of the reveal?
A The book and the movie are a mystery, so that was part of the baseline. It was very much a process of trial and error. The iterations of the script and the iterations of the film played with different placements and revealing different things. Ultimately, I just wanted to be restrained for as long as possible, to keep you kind of frustrated and uncomfortable, just to the edge of your enjoyment, and then give you a little bit more.
Q Reality TV plays a small but illuminating role in the film, speaking to this idea of the supernatural beasts watching the humans trapped in front of them. Do you watch a lot of reality TV?
A I'm a huge reality TV girl. I was deeply into Love Island UK at the time that I was writing the script. It was my respite as I was struggling with writing, and then it felt related to those ideas. I had this moment of realising I was doing the same thing that these creatures were doing — I thought it was a wonderful, funny thing.
