Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Watcher’

Written by Scott Edwards

There is something to be said about finding a house that you love, that is also in your price range. I don’t know about the rest of the nation, but the skyrocketing home prices in Colorado are making it more difficult for people to get in on owning a house. And when you finally find that perfect place, there are another ten people that have put bids in on it, so you need to go over the asking price, or show the current owners that you are more deserving by making them cookies and such. Being able to show how much you will love the home for years to come may be the little bit extra that the owner needs to see and sometimes that is even better than money...sometimes.

Being greeted by real estate broker Francine, Emma and Noah have finally found a house in L.A. that is within their price range. With a special appeal about the house, the two are astonished that it is something that they can afford, and it being in an estate sale does not hurt either. Even though it requires a little bit of work to make it into their own home, the couple decide to pull the trigger and end up getting the house for twenty thousand dollars above the asking price. Everything inside of the four walls now belongs to them, yet there is a story that goes along with the house that is more sinister than even they can imagine. 

Hearing the story about a woman killing herself within the walls, Emma and Noah have no problems with an extra ghost lurking around, but there seems to much more to it than that. Hearing something outside one night, Emma tries to investigate, however as something is being slammed into the outside wall, she does not have the nerve to check it out. When Noah opens the door and finds a letter addressed to them, warning them that they are in a place where they do not belong, the couple shrug it off thinking that kids are just having a good time with them. But that is not the only thing that is out of place in the house as there are packages being delivered to the house addressed to the previous owners and Noah cannot find a way to make the deliveries stop. Opening up a package to see a dead cat and another letter of warning from 'The Raven', the couple try to keep an open mind, yet there is someone keeping a close eye on them as their secrets are starting to become exposed.

While Noah works during the day, Emma is making new friends around the neighborhood and Jeanne seems to be the nicest lady around. Living with her son Mikey, who is autistic, she is a single mother that is just looking for someone that can help and that she can help as well. Everything seems good for Emma when she is around Jeanne, but Noah is starting to get a bad feeling about the relationship. As the letters from The Raven all revolve around the health of Emma, she is starting to see and feel it on a daily basis, the house seems to have it in for her. But the last straw is when The Raven is actually spotted outside of the house and breaks windows to terrify the young couple. But getting the cops involved may not be enough when a man sized bird is coming to punish you for living in its house.

I thought that this would be a little more haunting than what it was, but that does not take away from where the story ended up.  I liked the couple of Emma and Noah and while they took the familiar thriller steps and made the same mistakes, they seem to be made for each other. Jeanne and Mikey however really stole the show and I would love to see what happens when they both get old enough to actually talk to one another. I enjoyed the secret of the house slowly being revealed throughout and while there is one locked door in the house that no one can get open, it shows that evil can be anywhere at any time, no matter how nice you are to anybody. Stay Scared.

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