The Watchers (Short)
The short thriller “The Watchers” deals with that most fundamental fear– a man worried about being followed, and being watched. John Porter (Jeff Moffitt) is a man whose home life is a wreck– he’s unable to get in contact with his estranged wife and daughter –and who has a deep-seeded paranoia that he’s being watched. We see him talking to a therapist (Timothy J. Cox), who gives him the usual psychological rigmarole about being paranoid, and that it’s all in his head. Maybe it is; but when a car blows up in front of him, John begins to feel how real the danger is. As directed by Sy Cody White (who wrote the screenplay with Moffitt), “The Watchers” is not a subtle film; in particular, the music works overtime to make us feel the tension. Personally, less would have been more on that front– the movie is effective and tense without the overdrive in the score, especially when it gets to an ending that I honestly didn’t see coming. But this isn’t an ending that comes out of nowhere; it’s built up to gradually and intelligently and leaves you with a feeling of sadness as well as release as John, and the viewer, learn the truth.
