Director – Jordon Foss (Knightmare: Man or Bat, Static + Cling)
Starring – Jan Luis Castellanos (Uglies, Saint Clare), Tiana Le (Big Shot, No Good Nick), and Elizabeth Yu (Womb, Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 2.5/5
Slashers have always been my favorite sub-genre once I found myself fully embracing horror. Zombies are damn near close but slashers has and always will have my heart. I prefer the slasher of the early to mid 80s but I’m always open to any slasher regardless of when it was made or what it was about.
Several weeks back I started receiving press releases for the 2024 slasher He’s Watching You which was making it’s VOD debut. I shared it on the site and the press release that followed. I found myself really interested in the film after watching the trailer that accompanied the press release so I reached out to them for a screener link and they were kind enough to send one over!
**Spoiler Alert** The story for this one follows a high school journalist who finds his sleepy small town the center of a murderer known as The Pill who is targeting other youths from the area. While doing some investigating on his own he uncovers a collection of VHS which could lead him to uncovering the killer’s identity. **Spoiler Alert**
He’s Watching You looked like an interesting slasher that would fully embrace the modern tropes… and I was wrong. Instead, it was a slasher that borrowed heavily from 80s slashers while keeping a modern look and feel. I respect the hell out of it for that but the unlikable characters and weak slasher makes it one that I couldn’t really get into.
The acting in this one is solid. The characters are painfully generic and the dialogue is very campy but the cast does a decent enough job with what they were given. I was hoping that some of the characters in the film would have memorable personalities or would offer up something unforgettable but they all blend into the background. I get that everyone is written into the film to be murdered but having them all be one dimensional made the film a bit dull.
The story for this one had some things I liked and a lot of things that I didn’t. As I stated earlier, the characters are poorly written and offer up very little entertainment. With that being said, I did like the VHS angle and how the film feels like a slasher on campus horror film that was popular in the late 80s. Sadly, it doesn’t really take hold like I would have liked resulting in a predictable experience that just doesn’t have the suspense or tension that most modern slashers have.
Finally, the film has several deaths that feature some solid practical effects but they were unimaginable and not that graphic. I was expecting a lot from the kills with this one and was let down by them. The effects work and the kills fit a slasher tale but they are easily forgettable. Overall, He’s Watching You is a slasher that is painfully the middle of the road. It’s easily forgettable and offers up very little for the viewer. This type of generic slasher is what I like to call Walmart Horror. It’s not bad but it’s not that great either. Skip it.
