Many horror fans are likely still reveling in the first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's Trap, which went viral last week. If you're not aware, you should also know there’s another Shyamalan who has a film coming out this year. One of the Sixth Sense filmmaker's daughters, Ishana Night Shyamalan, has her feature directorial debut coming up, and it's called The Watchers. While Ishana is tackling a story based in horror, a genre her father is famous for working in, she revealed to CinemaBlend that a massive inspiration for her film is actually Hayao Miyazaki's filmography. As a result, I'm now excited about the movie for a different reason.
On the surface, The Watchers looks like a supernatural horror film that easily shares DNA with the movies of M. Night Shyamalan. It follows Dakota Fanning’s Mina, as she gets lost in a mysterious forest in Ireland and ends up becoming trapped with three strangers who claim they are being watched and stalked by creatures in the forest at night. Interestingly, when I had the chance to talk to Ishana in Los Angeles last week, she got me excited by discussing the hidden fantasy elements to be discovered in her 2024 new movie release. In her words:
I think that fantasy is like the thing I love most. I love reading books that are about fantasy and watching things that are in the fantasy space. And so, I'm really interested in that blend of fear and fantasy, something that is magical and also very scary. I think it's something that I think we all kind of like to experience in various forms in the world. So I'm really excited to hopefully have that come through during this movie and then hopefully go even deeper into it. There's quite a bit of fantasy involved [in The Watchers]. It's just sort of like teetering on both lines and plays with your expectations of genre.
2024 is filled with a lot of upcoming horror movies that fans of the genre can look forward to. One might even say there’s an oversaturation this year in particular. So the idea of Ishana Night Shyamalan leaning into fantasy elements for The Watcher has me not only excited for the summer release but for what is in store for her career as well. I find fantasy to be such an underutilized genre in Hollywood, especially in stories made for the big screen. So I love that it's so important to the filmmaker.
There's another intriguing aspect to this as well. Shortly before our chat, the rising director spoke about The Watchers alongside her father amid a panel held by Warner Bros. It was then that she spoke about one major influence on her work, which prompted my question to her during our own conversation. Here's what she said:
I think like in my bones, I'm most inspired by Miyazaki. Like I just think those have been the movies that throughout my life have moved me the most and they're very sacred things to me. So in many ways, this was just like chasing the experience that I feel when I watch those movies, which is one of wonder and adventure and innocence in many ways.
What a great pick! It goes without saying that Hayao Miyazaki’s movies are such gorgeous and ambitious stories that heavily utilize fantastical elements. That's been a throughline within the revered Japanese animator's illustrious career. One needn't look any further than beloved Studio Ghibli films like Howl's Moving Castle, Arrietty and of course, the highly acclaimed Spirited Away, which won the director an Oscar in 2002.
More recently, the filmmaker -- who announced his retirement in 2013 -- is still adding to his legacy. He eventually returned to the craft, producing the 2023 feature film The Boy and the Heron, which won him another Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. His work has been a gift, so it's understandable why Ishana Night Shyamalan would count herself among those who've been inspired by it. Check out the trailer for her film down below:
I have to say that the fantastical elements paired with the filmmaker's love for Hayao Miyazaki really have me anticipating The Watchers and future projects from Ishana Night Shyamalan. She's notched some solid experience thus far, as Shyamalan was a second unit director on both 2021’s Old and 2023’s Knock At The Cabin. She also served as a writer and director on the Apple TV+ series Servant. I'm confident that we're witnessing the beginning of a solid career, and I'm totally here for any horror and fantasy stories she wants to tell.
The Watchers -- which is also among upcoming book adaptations as it's based on A.M. Shine’s novel of the same name -- opens in theaters on June 14, 2024.
