Watcher  ★★★

AMERICAN actress Maika Monroe first came to wider attention in 2014 when she appeared in It Follows and The Guest.

To date she’s made about 20 features with 2022’s Watcher featuring probably her best performance.

It’s a psychological thriller that also provides strong and telling commentary on the male gaze and sexism.

Maika and Karl Guzman play a married couple who move from the US to Romania for his career.

Her character, Julia, is an actress but has agreed to put that on hold. Unfortunately, she tires fairly quickly of being a tourist every day.

Francis is mostly unaware or dismissive of her feelings and they slowly start drifting apart.

At the same time a murderer, nicknamed The Spider because he decapitates his victims, is on the loose in the city.

When Julia becomes concerned that a man is not only watching her from his apartment window but also following her, both Francis and the police are sceptical.

Is Julia just being paranoid, starting to lose her mind or truly in danger?

Debut writer/director Chloe Okuno does a good job of creating the necessary atmosphere and keeping the audience guessing at the final outcome.

Monroe dominates every scene with strong support across the board, including from Burn Gorman as the creepy neighbour.

It’s an effective, socially conscious thriller with a great ending.

Watched on Foxtel