After The Watchers' recent release on Netflix, new viewers are wondering what the Watcher creatures truly are.
Based on A. M. Shine's 2021 novel, The Watchers' story follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who becomes trapped in a vast Irish forest alongside three strangers, all stalked by mysterious creatures at night.
The film was released in theaters on June 7, 2024, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Despite its intriguing premise, The Watchers received overall negative reviews from critics and earned $33.2 million at the global box office, falling short of commercial expectations.
However, it appears its popularity is only growing following its recent streaming debut on Netflix on December 30.
What Are The Watchers? Explained
The Watchers features an unsettling twist on traditional fairy tales by reimagining its titular creatures as shapeshifting fairies.
Unlike the whimsical beings of bedtime stories, these fairies are tall and wingless, with a sensitivity to sunlight that confines them to darkness. Their ultimate goal is to perfect their mimicry of human behavior, allowing them to blend seamlessly into society.
The film reveals that fairies and humans once coexisted peacefully, even producing offspring capable of thriving in daylight, but an ancient conflict severed this harmony, driving the fairies underground.
Drawing inspiration from Irish folklore, The Watchers explores themes of displacement and survival. The changelings in the film resemble the mythological beings found in European cultures, particularly Irish tales of faeries swapped in place of humans.
However, the movie takes creative liberties, portraying these fairies as predatory beings confined to a forest that retains traces of their lost magic.
This modern interpretation nods to Celtic legends, where the faeries, often referred to as the Tuatha Dé Danann or aos sí, were described as once-godlike entities forced into hiding by humanity’s expanding dominance.
The eerie atmosphere of The Watchers and its folklore roots highlight the dark underpinnings of changeling myths, which often reflected fears of illness or the unknown. A.M. Shine infused the story with cultural authenticity while crafting a bone-chilling narrative.
The creatures' mimicry and captivity in the forest add layers to the film's commentary on identity, making The Watchers a haunting, reimagined exploration of folklore.
Horror fans should also check out a full breakdown of Robert Eggers' new Nosferatu film.
The Watchers is now streaming on Netflix.
The Watchers is a 2024 horror fantasy film directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan (M. Night Shyamalan's daughter) in her feature debut.
