Quick Links
Released theatrically on June 7,2024,The Watchersproves that first-time filmmaker Ishana Shyamalan is a chip off the old block. M. Night Shyamalan produced his talented daughter’s debut movie, which delivered aneerie supernatural mystery. Much like her father’s best movies, it relies on a shocking twist ending to jolt the audience and divert their expectations as the final act approaches. The film takes place in a secluded Irish forest, following a young American woman named Mina (Dakota Fanning), who becomes stranded in the woods and observed by unknown entities called Watchers.
As the tension mounts and the mystery escalates,The Watchersyanks the rug from under viewers in the final act with a jaw-dropping twist that typifies the Shyamalan brand. While some critics and viewers remain more convinced than others, the twists and turns that lead to the stunning revelation deserve closer attention. With the film currently playing in theaters, it’s time to unpack the ending ofThe Watchersand break down the big twist.
The Watchers
3What Is The Watchers About?
Produced by M. Night Shyamalan,The Watchersis a supernatural horror movie based on the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine. Directed by Ishana Shyamalan in her feature debut, the story concerns Mina (Fanning), an American artist living in Galway, Ireland, and working at a local pet store. Reeling over the death of her mother years before, Mina is estranged from her twin sister Lucy.The plot picks up when Mina must deliver a parrot that she names Darwin from Galway to Belfast.
Mina’s car falters along the way, and she becomes stranded in the woods. Mina spots an eerie elderly woman and follows her into an abandoned shelter deep in the forest. The old woman is named Madeline and the shelter is called the Coop. Mina meets two other captives in the Coop, including Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan).
Trapped inside the Coop, Madeline explains to Mina that anyone who tries to leave at nighttime will be killed by a cryptic cabal of observational entities called The Watchers.The Watchers are photosensitive and do not attack during the day. They also spy on the members through a mirror window, and forbid anyone from entering The Burrows, a network of underground tunnels beneath the Coop.
Despite the warning, Daniel and Mina explore one of the Burrows and find buried human relics before being attacked by a Watcher. After barely escaping, Ciara’s long-lost husband John (Alistair Brammer) returns to the Coop but fails to identify himself. As a result, John is abducted by the Watchers. Madeline returns the items Mina found in the burrow to calm The Watchers as winter soon approaches.
2What Happens at the End of The Watchers?
The Watcher’s woozy mystery comes into sharper focus as the finale approaches. Following months trapped inside the Coop, the captives develop cabin fever in the winter and begin turning on each other. Daniel kicks Mina and Madeline out of the Coop at night and locks them out, forcing them to navigate the forest at its most dangerous.Mina and Madeline happen upon a group of Watchers and realize they have shapeshifting abilities to mimic human form and assume the physical visage of the Coop members.
When Mina and Madeline return to the Coop and explain to Daniel thatThe Watchers are shapeshifting spritesintent on mimicking humanity, The Watchers assault the Coop and force the members to escape underground. Their escape takes them to a subterranean lab where a professor named Rory Kilmartin (John Lynch) confesses that he came to the forest to closely observe The Watchers. Kilmartin pleads with the survivors to destroy his research and gives directions on how to flee the forest unharmed.Kilmartin also explains that he successfully captured a Watcher and became friendly with it. The video ends with Kilmartin murdering himself and his captive Watcher.
Dakota Fanning’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
The dynamic Dakota Fanning has been acting since she was just five years old and first rose to prominence in the 2001 drama I Am Sam.
Heeding Kilmartin’s advice, the survivors use Darwin to lead them to the edge of the forest.Madeline spots a sacred rock and explains that it represents the war between the fairies and humans. Madeline describes how the fairies were defeated, stripped of their wings, forced underground, and eternally imprisoned in the forest. Moments later, the group reaches Kilmartin’s boat, but Daniel is slain by a Watcher posing as John. Following Daniel’s demise, Mina makes the crucial discovery that leads to the big twist finale.
1The Watchers' Big Twist, Explained
Once Daniel is killed, Mina ventures to Kilmartin’s university to eliminate his research notes. On campus,Mina learns that humans and fairies once peacefully co-existed and even crossbred to create a new race of hybrids. Some of the hybrids were able to endure sunlight while others could not. Mina shows the evidence to Ciara, revealing thatMadeline is Kilmartin’s deceased wife and is the same Watcher he captured and killed in the video. While the timeline ofthe classic Shyamlan plot twisthardly makes sense, more confusion comes when Ciara and Madeline are revealed to be the same person.
The big twist inThe Watchersis that Ciara and Madeline are the same. The real Ciara shows up at her home, prompting Madeline to shapeshift back into her original form. A fight ensues, resulting in Madeline knocking Ciara unconscious and assaulting Mina.Madeline declares herself a victim and that she was ostracized by The Watchers for her ability to withstand daylight. As Madeline relays her plan to kill Mina and assume her form, Mina pleads for her life and explains that Madeline is a hybrid human-fairy with the power to relinquish evil hatred for humanity. Afterward, Madeline grows wings and flies away.
Ishana Shyamalan Reveals Her Unusual Inspiration for The Watchers
Ishana Shyamalan took inspiration for her debut film from reality TV, while star Dakota Fanning says she felt “drawn” to the character of Mina.
The Watchersends with Mina making up with her estranged sister Lucy. The final images depict Madeline, appearing as a human child, watching over Mina like a guardian angel.The meaning of the twist ending suggests that, despite the horrors the fairies suffered at the hands of humans in the past, Mina encourages Madeline to find other hybrids like her and join forces with them. To repay Mina’s sage advice, Madeline watches over her as if she were her own child.
While it may not function to scare the daylights out of viewers like most of M. Night Shyamalan’s memorable plot twists, Ishana showcases her knack for guiding the audience one way, only to misdirect their expectations with a massive plot reveal that forces them to rethink the events of the entire movie.
