Even M. Night Shyamalan’s Sage Advice Couldn’t Save His Daughter’s Directorial Debut ‘The Watchers’ as it Continues One Depressing Trend of Horror Genre in 2024
2024’s supernatural horror movie The Watchers, starring Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and more, is the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan; daughter of Academy Award-nominated M. Night Shyamalan. The supernatural thriller is based on A.M. Shine’s book of the same name.
New Line Cinema
The story follows a 28-year-old girl who got stranded in an untouched forest in western Ireland. The young woman unknowingly gets trapped with three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures every night. The project’s exciting storyline was highly anticipated, but upon its release, the movie received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and the audience. Ishana Night Shyamalan shared one piece of advice that her father gave her, but unfortunately, the depressing trend of the genre couldn’t save her movie.
Ishana Night Shyamalan talks about advice from M. Night Shyamalan while working on The Watchers
Debut director Ishana Night Shyamalan’s movie The Watchers, featuring actress Dakota Fanning, was recently released, and despite the anticipation due to its exciting plot line, the response to the movie was not what the maker expected. At the New York City premiere of the movie, the 24-year-old Ishana shared with People Magazine one piece of advice her father gave her before she started working on the movie. She said,
He said at the very beginning, he was like, ‘If you have any question that this is what you want to do, don’t do it. It’s hard, and you need to be sure that you can’t survive without it. I always took that very seriously.
The young director at the premiere did not forget to praise the actress Dakota Fanning, describing her as a cool person and mentioned that she is happy that Fanning and she are friends now. Ishana added that the actress is full of energy, life, and creativity, mentioning that she had such a vision for what she wanted to do and was open to collaborating with everyone.
Dakota Fanning also shared her experience of working on the movie during her interview with Digital Spy and said the director is a creative, artistic person who put so much thought behind her debut movie. Fanning noted that she wanted to make the world that she wanted to create and it was wonderful to be a part of that world with her. She added
I think every director is unique, no matter what their experience is. Personalities are unique, ways of working and ways of talking about scripts are unique, and rehearsal styles are different, so I think it’s always a singular experience working with any director regardless of what they’ve done before.
However, following the trend of horror genre movies in 2024 being rated lowest on Rotten Tomatoes, The Watchers was also rated a low score of 30% at Rotten Tomatoes. Fans have noted that the horror genre simply tries to keep remolding the same old concept which is one of the reasons why the horror movie rating is so low despite being good. It has been seen that most horror movies have been rated low this year.
M. Night Shyamalan says working with his daughter changed him as a director
Academy-nominated director M. Night Shyamalan not only served as a producer but also as the second unit director for The Watchers, and during his interview with Games Radar, he shared,
It’s the same job I’ve done my whole life but with a different intention. I have to deliver for Ishana. It’s not something I came up with; it’s something she came up with. That created a different engine for me when I was directing those scenes for her. I almost became a student again from the beginning, which is the dream—that you start to see it as new again. It changed me as a director for myself and for my new movie.
New Line Cinema
The filmmaker’s upcoming thriller Trap is scheduled for release in August, and about that, the daughter said that it’s not a competition between the two of them; instead, the father-daughter duo is glad to share this filmmaking moment.
According to Variety, the director said that the part that appealed to him the most about Trap was the idea of telling a story from the vantage point of an unexpected person. He added that it kind of led more and more to the dark humor angle that Apple TV+’s Servant has.
The Watchers is now available in cinemas.
