• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Jennifer Coolidge as Karen Calhoun (from left), Naomi Watts as Nora Brannock and Bobby Cannavale as Dean Brannock in “The Watcher.” (Courtesy of Netflix)

TV Review: The Watcher

October 23, 2022
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews

NEW YORK – Grown TV fans in search of eerie programming appropriate to the Halloween season may find that the mystery series “The Watcher” fits the bill. Made up of seven hour-long episodes, the show is currently streaming on Netflix.

Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the thriller bears some similarities to “The Amityville Horror” franchise, including the claim to be based on real events. In this case, the facts elaborated on by Murphy, Brennan and their script collaborators, Reilly Smith and Todd Kubrak, were originally recounted by Reeves Wiedeman in a November 2018 article in New York Magazine.

Standing in for the family profiled by Weideman is the fictional Brannock clan. Dad Dean (Bobby Cannavale), a businessman, and mom Nora (Naomi Watts), a potter, decide to move from New York City to the suburb of Westfield, New Jersey. But the couple must dig deep to purchase the handsome manse there with which they quickly fall in love.

Joined by their teenage daughter Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and young son Carter (Luke David Blumm), Dean and Nora move into what they imagine is to be their dream house. Yet a series of unsettling developments quickly turns the residence into a source of nightmares instead.

Having received a series of threatening letters from a correspondent who identifies him-or herself only with the phrase of the title, the Brannocks get the brush-off from the local police, headed by Det. Rourke Chamberland (Christopher McDonald). So, they turn for assistance to somewhat eccentric private eye Theodora Birch (an impressive Noma Dumezweni).

The list of possible suspects is long and varied, as several of the Brannocks’ neighbors put Theodora in the shade where oddity of manner is concerned. To one side, for instance, there’s hulking but developmentally challenged Jasper Winslow (Terry Kinney) who lives with his shrewish sister Pearl (Mia Farrow).

Also nearby are annoyingly aggressive spouses Mo (Margo Martindale) and Mitch (Richard Kind). As for the Brannocks’ realtor, Karen Calhoun (Jennifer Coolidge) – by coincidence, an old college friend of Nora’s – she has a clear financial motive for wanting to resell the property.

The show teases viewers more than it informs them and, over the three installments reviewed, this tendency begins to feel slightly more frustrating than intriguing. Still, waiting for the eponymous character to be unmasked does maintain both tension among the character and attention on the part of the audience.

As they await this payoff, TV fans are shown a couple of explicit scenes of marital intimacy that register as less than fully justified by the context. As for 16-year-old Ellie’s underage romance with local security entrepreneur Dakota (Henry Hunter Hall), whom her parents have commissioned to install a battery of alarms and cameras, it’s handled more discreetly.

Along with the sexual content, and incidental thematic material such as references to the worship of Satan, profanity and milder swearing are frequent while vulgar language is incessant. So even some adults may find “The Watcher” too seamy for their taste.

Others will be left to judge whether Murphy, Brennan and co. have overburdened their factual basis with imaginary embellishments.

Read More Movie & Television Reviews

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Movie Review: ‘Trolls Band Together’

Movie Review: ‘Wish’

Antonio Banderas: ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ shows simple message of love

Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

John Mulderig

Formerly a staff member for Catholic News Service, John Mulderig has been reviewing visual media from a Catholic perspective for 15 years. His column is syndicated by Catholic Review Media. Follow his reviews on Twitter @CatholicMovie.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Bishop Barron criticizes synod report’s suggestion scientific advances could shift church morality teaching
  • Loyola Blakefield rolls past Calvert Hall, 40-28, in 103rd Turkey Bowl as Kendrick Worthington leads way
  • Movie Review: ‘Wish’
  • Movie Review: ‘Trolls Band Together’
  • German bishop denounces Polish archbishop for letter to pope protesting Germany’s reform course

| Christmas events |

| CURRENT EDITION |

| 2023 Attorney General’s Report |

Judge praises dialogue between archdiocese and creditors’ attorneys in reorganization

Radio Interview: Archdiocese of Baltimore and Chapter 11

‘The most equitable path for all victim-survivors’ – Archdiocese of Baltimore files for Chapter 11 reorganization

Compensating all claims of abuse: Archdiocese considers Chapter 11 reorganization

Archbishop Lori says Baltimore archdiocese will consider reorganization to address potential claims

| Crisis in Israel |

Israel-Hamas truce has been extended by two days; more hostages scheduled to be released

Biden celebrates release of some Hamas hostages, says it is ‘only a start’

For ‘Red Week,’ parish remembers suffering of Jews and Muslims along with persecuted Christians

Pope holds separate meetings with Israelis, Palestinians at Vatican

Israel agrees to hostage deal with Hamas; church leaders hope it will lead to end of war

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

| Movie & Television Reviews |

Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon

Movie Review: ‘Wish’

Movie Review: ‘Trolls Band Together’

Antonio Banderas: ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ shows simple message of love

Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’

| En español |

‘La pobreza es un escándalo’, dice el Papa, y los cristianos deben destinar sus dones a la caridad

Las guerras en Gaza, Ucrania, ‘matan’ el futuro de los niños, dice el Papa

Festival Hispano Familiar celebra vocaciones y valores familiares

Cruzar el desierto para llegar a una tierra de esperanza: la historia de una familia migrante

El Papa convoca una jornada mundial de oración por la paz ante la catástrofe en Gaza

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope, still suffering from the flu, urges prayers for peace at audience
  • Pope: Places, mentalities must be more receptive to people with disabilities
  • The St. Andrew Novena: Prayerful preparation for Christmas
  • Question Corner: Baptismal records, earthly sufferings and Purgatory
  • Pope cancels Dubai trip although Vatican says his health is improving
  • Texas immigration bill will likely face legal challenge
  • Ukraine churches remember Moscow’s campaign of ‘death by hunger’
  • Sister Mary Jean Aulenback, former nurse at Bon Secours, dies at 93
  • Rule of law protects democracy, pope says in message

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED