Unlike her father, this filmmaker doesn't bank on one big twist

He became known for his twist endings - some of which worked better than others. At times they felt like padded episodes of an anthology series like The Twilight Zone.

Here, he is co-producer of his daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan's debut as writer and director. She worked as second unit director on a couple of her father's movies and obviously learned a thing or two - both good and bad. The good: creating atmosphere and an intriguing premise. The bad: seriously straining credulity. At least she doesn't follow his bad habit of casting himself in a role (his talents are behind the camera, not in front of it).

The Watchers, an adaptation of the novel by Irish writer A. M. Shine, is set in Ireland, but the beauty of the Emerald Isle is somewhat muted by the cinematography - this isn't going to be a merry craic.

As an aside, the film is apparently titled The Watched in Britain and Ireland to avoid confusion with the Netflix series The Watcher.

Young American artist Mina (Dakota Fanning) is living in Ireland and keeps ignoring her sister's frantic phone calls. She seems to be running away from something. Delivering a parrot from a pet store to its new owner who's quite some drive away, she drives a long way until her car breaks down in a forest. As we've seen in a spooky prologue, and know from earlier horror movies, a forest is no place to be.

Her mobile phone has no reception (of course). Mina decides to walk into the forest to look for help, but finds that no matter where she goes, she - and the parrot, to whom Mina talks, helpfully providing us with information - ends up right back where she started. Either she's really bad at finding her way around or there's something spooky happening. That's unsettling, and so are the signs reading "Point of No Return" with numbers on them.

Eventually, she encounters Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), an older woman who hustles her to a small, one-room shelter. There, she's introduced to teenagers Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). All three have been in the shelter for quite some time.

Incongruously, there are a couple of items for entertainment: an old-fashioned gramophone with a recording of Saint-Saens' The Swan played on theremin; and a receptionless TV and DVD player that work. but the only thing they have to watch is a single season of a reality show. That sounds bad enough, but there's more. One wall of the abode is a one-way mirror: those outside can see in but not vice versa. During the day, the four can go out and forage and hunt, within certain boundaries, but they have to be inside at night where mysterious beings, the Watchers, observe them through the window (and will kill them if they try to leave). Just what is going on here?

This film is a decent effort though not terribly memorable. The actors aren't bad though none is really a standout. Shyamalan's film does not rely on the impact of a single big twist as some of her old man's work does. Nor does she overdo the jump scares and other horror tricks. Gore fans will be disappointed - this isn't that kind of movie.

You'll have to be patient, though - Shyamalan takes her time, building up atmosphere and suspense, and there are obviously limited numbers of locations and characters for much of the story. You'll also have to really suspend disbelief, especially at a couple of discoveries at a turning point in the story (I don't know whether they come from Shyamalan or the book's author, Shine).