Last Friday, IFC Midnight gave the psychological thriller Watcher a theatrical release on 764 screens in the United States, one of the distributor’s widest releases ever. Going wide with this one paid off, because Watcher had an opening weekend of $826,775, which is the biggest opening weekend gross ever for an IFC Midnight release. It will continue playing in theatres throughout the month, and will be receiving a VOD release on June 21st.
The film also be heading to the Shudder streaming service later in the year.
The feature directorial debut of Chloe Okuno, who rewrote the original screenplay by Zack Ford, Watcher stars genre regular Maika Monroe (The Guest, It Follows, The Stranger), who is joined in the cast by Karl Glusman (Love) and Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim). The story follows
young married couple Julia (Monroe) and Francis (Glusman) as they move into a new apartment together in Bucharest, just as a citywide panic is brewing over a possible serial killer on the loose. Julia, who finds herself isolated in her new surroundings, becomes increasingly tormented by the belief that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in the adjacent building.
IFC Film president Arianna Bocco had this to say about the film:
Watcher is one of the best feature debuts we have ever screened out of Sundance and with it, Chloe Okuno has proven without a doubt that she is a leading new voice in horror. We are thrilled to have been her partner on the release of Watcher and remain committed to finding the best new voices working in film today.”
Watcher is an Image Nation and Spooky Pictures co-production. The film was produced by Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Derek Dauchy, John Finemore, Mason Novick, Aaron Kaplan, and Sean Perrone. Stuart Manashil, Rami Yasin, and James Hoppe serve as executive producers.
Chloe Okuno previously directed the short film Slut and the Storm Drain segment of V/H/S/94.
Have you seen Watcher? If so, let us know what you thought of it by leaving a comment below. Our own Gaius Bolling gave it an 8/10 review you can read at THIS LINK.
