MOVIE REVIEW: They're Watching

They're Watching (2016)

Horror, Comedy

Directed By: Jay Lender & Micah Wright

So often the "found-footage" subgenre of horror gets a bad wrap, we always like to remember the bad ones and forget the good. When this style of filmmaking is used correctly however, cool and interesting things can happen. The key to this is finding the right excuse for your characters to be filming everything they are doing. If the reason for the film isn't believable than the entire film will likely follow suit. This is the main mistake of most sub-par found-footage movies. This has also led some filmmakers to come up with new creative ways to tell these stories, like the new horror comedy They're Watching. Written and directed by Jay Lender and Micah Wright the movie centers on a home hunting reality TV show that takes its cast all over the world.

The movie focuses on those team of "house hunters' as they travel to a remote Eastern European village for a follow up with a former guest of the show. When they arrive in the town however they are met with colder reactions than expected. When they hear of a local tale involving the burning of a suspected witch who lived on the outskirts of town, things begin to get weird. It is only made worse when a few members of the crew interrupt a funeral in town and further alienate themselves from the locals. Despite the crew's best efforts to be in and out of this town as quickly as possible, things keep going wrong and before they know it they are fighting for survival against the locals and their outrageous superstitions.  

The decision to go the horror/comedy route with this story was most certainly the right choice, once you get into the story it's clear this would have gotten almost nowhere without the low-brow laughs and slightly overblown characters. They stack the film with your average horror movie archetypes and in classic fashion have them go down one by one as the threat moves closer. The film plays a lot of genre tropes and cliches, poking fun at them along the way while also using them to their advantage. This actually builds some impressive tension and mystery, making it easy to get sucked into what's going on.

The film never takes itself too seriously, which sometimes plays against itself while at others being the perfect bit of levity. There are moments though where a bit of serious horror would help move it along but instead they use it as another chance for laughs and it instead kinds of slows the story down. These moments are usually only saved by the few fun performances featured, starting with Vladimir Filat played by Dimitri Diatchenko who is here almost entirely for comedic relief but is such an enjoyable character that you never have a problem with it. Kris Lemche also gives a fine performance and is a source of many of the laughs in the film, but again is a more one dimensional character. This is the film's biggest problem, we never actually get any attachment to the characters so when they start dying we have little to no investment.  

Most of the movie is building towards its big twist ending, and although it is a fine twist and brings about a raucous ending it all kind of feels like it came from a different movie. The final fifteen or so minutes just go crazy, in some great ways and in some not so great ways. Without spoiling anything let's just say the violence is fun but the effects can be quite jarring. They throw everything at the wall in the finale in hopes that what sticks is great enough to forget what doesn't. It doesn't fully get there but I admire the ambition to do something wild and different. 

I doubt this movie will do anything to get the sub-genre more respect but for those who are a fan of found-footage horror They're Watching is another fun installment into that pantheon. At a ninety-five minute run-time they keep it short and sweet, being sure to never overstay its welcome and it simply aims to entertain. If you are looking to kill an hour and a half with something wacky then give this a shot, it's currently streaming on Netflix to make it even easier. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!