& Chloe Okuno

Watcher

6.3

A young woman moves into a new apartment with her fiancé only to be tormented by the feeling that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in an adjacent building.

Director: Chloe Okuno
Main Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman
Soundtrack: Nathan Halpern
Cinematography: Benjamin Kirk Nielsen
Screenplay: Chloe Okuno, Zack Ford

Cinema Premiere: November 4, 2022

What do English critics think?

English Reviews

15 english reviews of Watcher (2022)

1. New York Times

10 / 10

One of this century’s most arresting tales of female anxiety.
- Lena Wilson
nytimes.com »
2. The Guardian

8 / 10

Okuno works up a muted style and aces the setpieces: retooling passing extras as peripheral threats as the sound design goes right through you.
- Mike McCahill
theguardian.com »
3. Los Angeles Times

8 / 10

This beautifully crafted jewel of a throwback thriller signifies Okuno as a talent to watch, but furthermore, it pushes the viewer to question what, and who, we choose to believe and why.
- Katie Walsh
latimes.com »
4. Time Out

8 / 10

Monroe is fantastic at making Julia’s swelling paranoia both the source of empathy and distrust. She becomes the stalker, following the man she thinks is watching her.
- Anna Bogutskaya
Time Out »
5. CineVue

8 / 10

Okuno’s "Watcher" is smart, engaging and intelligent, and it’s especially refreshing to see this sort of mid-budget, grown-up genre film getting a proper theatrical release.
- Christopher Machell
CineVue »
6. The Guardian

8 / 10

This classy debut feature from American director Chloe Okuno crafts a teasing, uneasy sense of uncertainty
- Wendy Ide
theguardian.com »
7. Paste Magazine

7.9 / 10

"Watcher" flourishes as it complicates its premise beyond the unknowable and faceless desires of a shadowy silhouette.
- Jacob Oller
Paste Magazine »
8. The Wrap

7.9 / 10

It’s a film about a bleak and cruel universe that is unkind to victims and eager to ignore reasonable pleas, a world that has a conscious and subconscious vendetta against women in general.
- William Bibbiani
thewrap.com »
9. Austin Chronicle

7.8 / 10

Coldly gorgeous and never less than enthralling, "Watcher" is undoubtedly worth watching.
- Richard Whittaker
Austin Chronicle »
10. Entertainment Weekly

7.5 / 10

Writer-director Chloe Okuno has a remarkably sure hand for mood-building in her feature debut, using the winding alleys and tree-lined boulevards of Bucharest to woozy, enveloping affect.
- Leah Greenblatt
ew.com »
11. Collider

7.5 / 10

"Watcher" is a cautionary tale against those who might write off a woman's instincts as irrational or overly-sensitive.
- Therese Lacson
collider.com »
12. The Film Stage

7.5 / 10

Chloe Okuno has made a smart, controlled movie of pricks and gestures and tones that accumulate into a satisfying catharsis. And perhaps validated the urge to follow your gut.
- Jake Kring-Schreifels
The Film Stage »
13. Arizona Republic

7 / 10

Eventually the film's subtlety gives way to a more straightforward conclusion.
- Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic »
14. The AV Club

6.7 / 10

Without spoiling, this is one movie where it’d be extremely interesting to know what happens five minutes after the final scene.
- Luke Y. Thompson
The AV Club »
15. The Playlist

5 / 10

The result is an initially compelling mystery that becomes more predictable as it progresses, until an ending that feels both like a cheap last-minute attempt to steer the film into a more topical direction and hard to care about.
- Elena Lazic
The Playlist »

Reviews by critics from other countries

Foreign Reviews

2 foreign reviews of Watcher (2022)

1. Filmbladet

7 / 10

Translated from swedish: "Watcher" is a well-crafted thriller that truly succeeds with the idea that the murderer could be real — but also only in the mind of the main character. Together with a good cinematographer and atmospheric music, this is a thriller you will remember for a long time.
- Fredrik Lagnetoft
Swedish: Review: "Watcher"
2. Cinetaste

6 / 10

Translated from swedish: It's your standard thriller film that you've seen multiple times before without any surprises. The only thing that prevents me from truly hating it is, as mentioned, Maika Monroe and an entirely decent directing job by Chloe Okuno.
- Linus Andersen
Swedish: cinetaste.se »