In her early 20s, the daughter of the notorious director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) made her feature film debut. They See You, originally called The Watchers, is reminiscent of her father’s mystery horror The Village because of its story with scary monsters in the forest.
For a while it seems as if Ishana Shyamalan to build on his spooky skills. But after the first half of the film, unfortunately, comes the second.
Horror thriller They See You creates a lot of scary tension
The film is based on the novel by AM Shine and is about the American Mina (Dakota Fanning), who lives in Ireland and one day breaks down in the woods with her car. She comes across a cabin in which there are three people (Olwen Fouéré, Georgina Campbell and Oliver Finnegan).
The oldest woman in the small group explains the rules that Mina must follow from now on. In the forest between sunset and sunrise, deadly monsterswhich can only be defended against by very specific behavior.
Here you can watch a German trailer for They See You:
They See You – Trailer (German) HD
The mix of ambiguous horror, in which the mysterious threat not clearly recognizable for a long time and straightforward tension together with atmospheric images creates a scary oppressive feeling.
But every horror film is only really good when this nightmarish atmosphere remains intangible and the threat is overwhelming. But Ishana Shyamalan doesn’t rely on the effect alone and takes the story in a completely different direction from the second half onwards. Unfortunately.
The second half of Ishana Night Shyamalan’s feature film debut ruins everything
When the name Shyamalan is associated with a film, most people expect some kind of twist. But the director is not satisfied with that and makes the last half hour of They See You a endless fireworks of explanations.
What is behind the monster threat will not be revealed at this point. Based on the novel, Ishana Shyamalan weaves a kind of mythology into the plot, which becomes more and more complex with every passing minute of the running time. Inconsistencies and logical problems is bursting with.
From this point on, every single aspect of the horror in They See You is examined, questioned, justified and resolved. The story increasingly develops into a fantasy adventure that takes hair-raising turns and ends in completely annoying, contrived insignificance.
From August 8, 2024, family reparations can at least take place. Then Trap by M. Night Shyamalan in the cinema.