They're Watching

Amplify Releasing | Release Date: March 25, 2016

6.9	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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TheQuietGamerAug 6, 2016

It's interesting to see a horror-comedy like this spring up from the minds of people who used to work on things like SpongeBob. Yes, Micah Wright and Jay Lender are no strangers to kid-oriented cartoons. You notice that influence in theIt's interesting to see a horror-comedy like this spring up from the minds of people who used to work on things like SpongeBob. Yes, Micah Wright and Jay Lender are no strangers to kid-oriented cartoons. You notice that influence in the film's final act where things get ridiculously over the top.

The movie's ability to not take itself too seriously isn't the issue here. It's that it fails to really do anything interesting in the process. This found-footage style horror-comedy goes on for over an hour before anything actually happens. For the majority of the movie we just watch it's cast goof off, flirt, and make us realize just how stupid their characters are.

This horror-comedy definitely leans more to the comedy side of things. It's got some chuckle worthy moments, but the directing and writing duo failed to realize it takes more than witty one-liners to make a really funny comedy.

The horror side of things doesn't fare much better. It's mostly just watching the characters do stupid things to tick off the locals and then getting freaked out when the town doesn't treat them so great. A word to Lender and Wright, having your characters acknowledge that they're being stared at isn't tension building.

Needless to say there isn't anything scary going on. When the movie does finally start to get things going and gets with the killing, it takes a quick turn into crazy town. A very cartoony and violent final act can be quite amusing. Not entirely in the right of ways either.

The problem here is that the movie just drags on. The duo doesn't really let their imaginations shine until the very end. I appreciate that they took time to flesh out and try to make us care about the characters though. We definitely get to learn their personalities and it tries to add some depth to them. There's a romance to make the whole thing feel more human. It's basically nothing more than the two most attractive people onscreen flirting and hooking up because, yeah, they're both attractive, young, and they can. It's definitely not compelling, but totally believable.

A subplot involving one character's background in Afghanistan feels unnecessarily shoehorned in. Not because it's bad or anything, but because it doesn't actually add any depth to his character and feels out of place. Part of me believes that might have been Wright's influence. The guy has written some anti-war and propaganda books surrounding the Afghanistan conflict. Thankfully there's message trying to be preached here. Just a part in the film where a character describes an experience he had and we the audience are just left thinking "why is this here?"

Despite all of my complaining, "They're Watching" isn't an entirely bad film. Just one that fails to reach to reach any sort of potential it could have had. Lender and Wright are unable to take the story to any interesting or truly crazy or funny heights thanks to their desire to cling tightly to horror clichés. They block out their own imagination. The results are unsatisfying and boring. The poor special effects suck out some of the excitement one could have gotten from the movie's gorier moments.

The potential is here, but Wright and Lender need to actually make things happen, do something new with the characters, and not stick so closely to formula. So nice lines to add a sense of humor to the thing and by the time it really starts going it's clear that they stopped taking themselves seriously and just got to work on the absurdity. It almost adds a sense of tonal incoherence. However that's when the movie is at it's most fun. Lacking in scares and truly laugh-out-loud funny moments though, and there isn't really much of a reason to give this horror-comedy a go. Maybe next time.

5.7/10… Expand

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