"The Watch" is an incredibly flawed but somewhat enjoyable ghost story.
**SPOILERS**
Working on her college thesis, Cassie Malloy, (Clea Duvall) agrees to go to a forest look-out station to fulfill class requirements and have time to finish her thesis. Arriving at her assigned cabin with Rhett, (James A. Woods) she finds the isolation a little easy-going at first, but after a while she starts to question the true nature of the isolation when she starts to experience a series of strange events that she feels can only be responsible by someone else being there. As the days tick by, she learns that the only companion she was talking to was killed in an accident years ago and reportedly haunts the area, and when she finds that the stories and legends are true and have placed her in great danger, she tries to get away before more harm is done.
The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot here that actually worked. One of the main pluses is that, when it focused on the supernatural elements, it had some good results. The minor attack in the food-shed, with the name written on the wall before the wind gusts shut the door, knocking over the food onto the floor and trapping her within, as the struggle to get free is pretty well done and has some pretty good suspense. The discovery of the charred cabin in the woods, along with the implications from the revealed back-story, are placed into good use during the phone-calls during the chess game later on, where the revealing of the information leads to threats that are played out with the vibrating phone, the sealed-off interior and awakening to find the chess game stacked after being wrecked earlier on is another fine scene, as well as the several different escape attempts that go awry due to being totally unfamiliar with the wooded area and becoming lost several different times. The return the second time around, with the desecrated outside and the message on the walls as well as the ghostly confrontation and eventual escape are all fine suspense scenes that are perfectly done in here. The finale, with the revelation within the station coming complete with the haunting and possession later on leading to the real-life supernatural displays of power, are done rather well and make for a superb finish. A few other rather quick flashes of ghostly action, from the ghost walking behind her in the broken mirror to the self-working water pump and the figure watching in the woods as well as the discovery of the rocking-chair in a different area and the majority of the ghostly figure shown on the video cameras are just great, and also work well in here. The opening is quite impressive, with the creepy house walk-through as a child and the discovery of marital strife and eventually being locked away make for a fine opening. The last plus is the cabin where it takes place, effectively using creaking-wood sounds and howling wind to fine effect. These here are the film's pluses.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of flaws here, but they were pretty important ones. One of the biggest issues to this one is the fact that there's just hardly anything going on in here that really feels enjoyable or entertaining when the haunting segments aren't in focus. This is most evident in the procrastination techniques she employs while trying to accomplish her work. From reading the novels, which is lamely thrown out the window by the twist that all the endings have been removed, is such a strange inclusion that even including it to be thrown away in just a few minutes later makes no sense at all and really doesn't have any point to being here. While the inclusion of the chess games does indeed derive a scare later on, the scenes going on in the film of them playing aren't that good and doesn't really do anything to justify their inclusion here, which just goes to pad out the film even longer without really making a positive impact. There's also the matter of the harmonica practice, which is just irritating and doesn't really have any point in being in here, going on way too long and joins these other procrastination tactics in that they don't have anything worth adding to the film. The film also suffers from a series of utterly lame ghostly scare scenes that are just confusing as to their inclusion and don't really do much for the film. The lights going off behind her in the hallways at school, which is neither followed-up not explained, is a prime example, but others include the series of static-y radio transmissions while in the ranger station after being told that there's nothing wrong with much of the equipment that are completely ignored or the false alarm in the cabin during the fire-watch, which seems to be merely included because they said it could and doesn't really do much. The last, and most significant flaw, is the finale revelation, which is just insanely stupid and doesn't do much in making the film any creepier or scarier and instead just serves as an excuse to throw the viewers' expectations off, for it doesn't follow anything explained beforehand, seems to come from left field without any sort of explanation and totally undermines the entire film by choosing to remove the supernatural that had worked for the human element, a typical sort of move in these films and becomes really irritating. These here are the film's flaws.
The Final Verdict: While not the most entertaining ghost story around, this one did have some good parts to enjoy even though there's still more flaws present. Really only recommended for the fans of the Lifetime-style ghost films or fans of the cast, while those looking for more hardcore ghost-film efforts should heed extreme caution.
Rated PG-13: Violence and some Language
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