One of the key aspects of many horror film or thriller is a staring man. Michael Myers staring at Laurie as fresh white sheets sway from a clothesline. Lifetime Movie Network’s killer of the week standing in broad daylight watching a woman who somehow can’t see him. There’s even a movie called Men that will show this with a little dash of isolation. It is truly a woman’s worst nightmare; however, viewers can’t seem to get enough of men being creepy staring stalkers. Such is the case with IFC Midnight and Shudder’s new thriller The Watcher, which features a nearby neighbor who can’t stop looking at something. The Watcher, starring Maika Monroe of It Follows fame, is amping up the dark, weird vibes with an unsettling trailer.
It’s a dark and stormy night. Julia wakes up and looks out of her city apartment window to a man across the street. He’s standing and staring seemingly in her direction. It’s not a great thing considering there’s a serial killer traversing around town. She tells her boyfriend that a man in the window is watching them and we don’t get to hear nor see what he thinks about this. Another man, presumably a neighbor, brushes off her concerns saying the weird man probably has a crush on her. As if that makes it okay to stare in someone’s window all day. What is a thriller, if not gaslighting a woman persevering?
She begins to wonder if he’s really looking at her or something else instead. The Watcher starts veering into crime mystery territory with Julia pointing the man out on a surveillance camera to police. There are snippets of a bloody crime and Julia turning the tables, following this man for whatever reason. At the end of The Watcher trailer, she arrives home to find her door open and a man standing in her apartment.
So many questions to ponder. Do curtains and blinds exist in this universe? What is the man looking at? Does he have a connection to the serial killer… or is he indeed the serial killer? The boyfriend is always suspicious too because, well, if you’re a Scream fan then you know you cannot trust the boyfriend. The Watcher hits theaters on June 3 and will answer those questions and more as we live vicariously through Maika Monroe.