WATCHER

Young married couple Julia (Maika Monroe) and Francis (Karl Glusman) move from New York to Romania when Francis is promoted at his job. Both are Romanian, however, only Francis speaks the language. This creates untenable isolation on the part of Julia, who we're told was a former actress back home but it didn't pan out. Now in a new country, not knowing the culture, customs, or language, she's at an impasse on what to do with her life. She soon begins learning Romanian but more times than not she's left drinking by herself in her apartment, waiting for Francis to come home from work. During this time there's a string of murders, with the victims being young, beautiful women. Her apartment has huge windows in the living room and bedroom and from time-to-time, she people watches. Although, one of her neighbors across the street engages in the same activity whenever she does and she becomes paranoid that he's following her and could be the perpetrator behind the recent killings. It's a psychological thriller that attempts to present itself as Hitchcockian with an obvious REAR WINDOW motif. Monroe is fantastic as the frail, fish out of water American who tries to convince her husband of her suspicions while constantly being rebuffed by him. In addition, a lot of Romanian is spoken but no subtitles are given to the audience, allowing us to experience Julia's isolation and at times, frustration for not being in the know to the circumstances around her. I've been a fan of Monroe's ever since IT FOLLOWS but outside of her performance, this isn't worth a watch. 6/10