I'll Be Watching (2023) User Reviews

Bland

[wormsoftheerth · 3/10 · 8 May 2023]

Not much to say about this one; it's incredibly slow and boring. It only hits the absolute bare minimum required to be categorized as either "sci fi" or "thriller" so don't expect much of either. It tries to present this "what is real?" psychological angle but it goes nowhere and drags on and on without offering anything engaging. The acting and sets are fine enough but the plot is under-cooked and extremely generic. It's the story of a smart house/alexa and it goes exactly how you'd guess (actually the story and expected "twist" is even more dull than you're expecting); my girlfriend predicted the entire plot within the first 10 minutes. Remember The Simpsons "Ultrahouse 3000" episode with the smart house? Yeah, that came out 20+ years ago and explored this concept better and more entertainingly in a short than they could in this entire movie.

There are also various dumb/weird inconsistencies here (the HVAC tech seriously doesn't have an extra...wire...in his truck?) although this is a movie you're going to forget 5 minutes after watching it anyway so whatever.

Also they kill the cat for absolutely no reason so I can't give this a good rating.

Avoid-- not thrilling, not sci fi, not interesting or innovative in any way, just boring.

Really?

[KiyaDaDiva · 5/10 · 30 May 2023]

I actually think that the actors did a great job. I also think that to me it was fairly obvious how everything was going to go at least half way through the movie. You? Have. A husband that is barely around for his wife, his wife just lost her sister and expected her to just get over it in 5 months. I feel like the doctor was in cahoots with the husband because they constantly made Julie out to be the bad guy the whole time. He wanted them to have some vacation time together, by going to some vacation house only for him to disappear doing the same thing that he was doing before they even came out here. I had a feeling that either he was in on it or either the A. I. System was in on it because the whole time Julie was losing her mind, like literally. Everytime she call him or he calls her, he was always busy and nowhere to be found along with his AI system when she really needed them. I think this movie would have done a whole lot better had the ending been totally different rather than making him out to be the hero.

I really tried

[misskaylacamp · 4/10 · 28 March 2024]

I've been on a journey through all SHUDDER has to offer trying to find hidden gems of horror movies, I wanna be able to recommend great unknown horror movies so I deeply wanted to like this movie. There were even times I where I wasn't rolling my eyes at the dialogue or acting but that ending had me audibly groaning. There's loads of potential here but the execution fell extra flat. The lead character is unlikeable and the boyfriend character suffers from my most hated trope of never believing his significant other until the absolute bitter end. It honestly could have been saved if someone did a mega rewrite and reshoot of the last 15 minutes.

The movie is so bad it hurts

[neverovatnimiki-97898 · 1/10 · 7 May 2023]

I was attracted to this film by the high rating on this site. However, right at the beginning, I regretted that I started watching it. The main characters are annoying, what they say is banal (as if they were all some kind of robots from Stepford), and the plot and point are unoriginal.

It might work as an episode of The Twilight Zone. But like this, as a movie lasting an hour and a half, it's too much. It would take a lot of work to make it even watchable. You can see the effort of the author, but despite that, nothing works. Boring, boring, boring.

It was boring as hell to watch this achievement of the seventh art.

Absolutely Awful

[OctopusPower · 1/10 · 27 May 2023]

Just what the title says. Don't waste your time with this atrociously paced, badly acted, "sci-fi" drivel. It was a complete waste of an hour an half, and something I happily won't remember in a day - forgettable, predictable, and unbelievably boring.

Whoever was involved with this project at any level needs to find a new career. The plot was predictable and contrived, the characters flat and boring, and the acting/dialogue was so cringey it was impossible to take any of this seriously and not think it was some nepo baby's vanity project. The actors had zero chemistry and couldn't act their way out of a paper bag. If I could give this 0 stars I would. If the abysmal rating doesn't already clue you in, don't bother wasting your time watching this. If I could get back the time I spent watching this I would do it in a heartbeat.

Absolutely. Awful.

You don't need to kill the cat

[kim-hamilton1983 · 1/10 · 9 May 2023]

I'll be watching you. Change the name to I wish I was watching something else.

The movie was average and I would have given about 4 stars, I was expecting a lot more as I loved the actors in the 100.

What is it with thriller or horror movies killing the cat. It was not needed it pissed me off. It adds absolutely nothing to the movie. Due to this I would give the movie a 0 but a 1 will have to do.

I do not recommend this movie which is about a Jealous artificial intelligence, that kills it's creators wife's sister by hiring an assassin, then makes the wife think she is crazy, kills the cat in the washing machine then gets the assassin to kill the wife.

Woof

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 11 May 2023]

Julie (Eliza Taylor) is mourning the loss of her sister when her tech geek husband Marcus (Bob Morley) goes away for a weekend, leaving her within their gadget-filled high security home. Seeing as how this is a thriller, well, you can imagine that things go wrong.

Julie's been dealing with guilt ever since she sent her sister Rebecca (Hannah Fierman) to feed her cat and gets her killed by someone hiding inside her place. Months later, her husband and her therapist Dr. Tate (Bryan Batt) have come up with a plan, by moving her out of that place of trauma, and into that aforementioned high security house. That said, the security system that Marcus created, Hera, didn't protect Rebecca all that well.

Yes, it's everything you expect: a woman being potentially gaslit -- Did you take your pills? You know what your doctor said! -- while dealing with guilt and a bad marriage. And when someone gets in the house -- the same house whose last owner went mysteriously missing -- well, you know exactly where this movie is going.

The couple at the heart of this, Taylor and Morely, are an actual married couple and appeared on the show The 100 together. He's barely in this, watching from afar, but man, I hope their real marriage is better than the one in this movie. I also kind of hope that their marriage is better than this movie.

Director Erik Benard and writers Elisa Manzini and Sara Sometti Michaels don't really add anything new to gaslit wife genre -- is it a genre? -- but if you're looking for a movie where a robot vacuum cleaner hobbles a heroine who may be going hysterical, this is here for you. It looks nice, sounds great and sadly doesn't seem to go anywhere new until the end of the movie throws in some twists.

Look, my mom has Alexa running her house and it just keeps repeating and answering questions wrong, as well as always turning on the incorrect lights. I'll stick with light switches. Or maybe candles, I'm becoming a luddite, other than all the time I spend updating this site.

Not scary just annoying

[zerosugarzerocalories · 1/10 · 11 May 2023]

Admittedly I only watched this to see what kind of projects Bob and Eliza work on post The 100, I didn't expect much but I didn't think it was gonna be this cringe. 2mins in and the sister says 'let's take an SC' these people are in their mid 30s and you're making them say that?

For a supposed tech genius the husband had no idea what went wrong with his tech and who was messing with their crypto wallet?

This movie could've cut down on a lot of scenes but most especially with the cat dying by the washing machine? It's so morbid for no reason. And the circus background music on a supposedly suspenseful scene?

The filmmakers could've done something different on an already tired trope, and they did! They just somehow made it worst.

Eliza Taylor PERFORMS

[Florellagundumbo · 3 May 2023]

Julie Alexander is still reeling from the murder of her sister. Months later, her husband, Marcus, announces that he purchased a house in the country so that the two can start a new future and get back on track with their marriage. We learn Julie is having substance abuse issues now by mixing wine with her pain medication (she's in a foot cast during the movie, having tripped over a robot vacuum before the movie began). When Marcus leaves on an alleged business trip, Julie begins to hear a man's voice over the intercoms. The computer system that Marcus invented, Hera, is a modern day personal assistant. Think Alexa of the future. She can even turn on the washing machine! Hera suspiciously is always down when Julie has these terrifying experiences, so that no one believes her. Not the sheriff, not Marcus. To the audience, she becomes an unreliable narrator. Is this all truly happening or is this all in her head? Everyone's convinced of the latter. But maybe Hera is a bit too human for an AI... as we are experiencing in present day how far AI has come and still continues to make amazing and terrifying advances in a short period of time.

I won't spoil anything, but it is a must watch. Eliza Taylor shines. Bob Morley is fantastic, and I wish we had more screen time with him.

Warning spoilers in case you are sups excited for this

[Wolfylildoggy · 2/10 · 8 August 2023]

Ok for one the husband is medium dork ugly because he's a total gaslighter, and her cat gets killed via clothes dryer, the hubs suggests she unwittingly did this to the cat, which is preposterous considering she is a. Well aware kitty likes the dryer to sleep in b. The cat is the only one in this movie not trying to hurt this woman. It personally makes me angry when animal characters & child characters are offed in movies. There's too many stories where that is unnecessarily thrown in and no one avenges the deaths at all & its not really a part of anything, it feels like a cheap shot script-wise, because it is for lack of main character development. The actors are great as we know but the script is mundane at best.

Therapy session

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 14 February 2024]

No pun intended - I do wonder if the main couple made this to ... well have a cathartic effect and feel to it. Eliza Taylor and her husband do reunite for this movie ... I reckon they found themselves on the 100 set ... I assume their marriage is way more mellow and with less problems and issues.

Technology has come a long way. Modern and smart houses are supposed to be helping us. Of course if we are ... not right in the head, what can the house do ... or is it the house (AI) who is doing something? Or a human? Who is to blame? The husband is not really without fault and flaws either ... would you leave your fiance when she clearly struggles? If you like thriller movies, this may be for you ... but you have to suspend your disbelief for this to work ... Hopefully I'll be able to meet Eliza this year - I am curious how she feels about the movie and her role ... she even produced this ...

A topical story for our times

[tiger-21636 · 9/10 · 8 May 2023]

It was both strange and thrilling to see Eliza and Bob reunited on the screen after so long and it wasn't disappointing.

The concept was eerie (especially given recent revelations about AI current technology) and the tension and acting very on point. The whodunnit worked as I really wasn't sure until the very end.

Having said that, Julie's injury (to justify her remaining in the house) would've felt less contrived if tied better into the overall plot of the story. And the cheating felt arbitrary and unnecessary when Marcus' fixation on Hera would've fitted better as a driver for the eventual outcome of the story. It came out of nowhere and didn't really match the set-up on screen of M and J's (albeit cracked) relationship

Despite the portrayal of a creaking relationship, these two can't really quite hide just how great their on-screen (and off-screen!!!) chemistry is. Good for them!

I love you

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 1 July 2023]

Julie Alexander (Eliza Taylor) is a painter at an exhibit of her art. She is there with her sister Rebecca (Hannah Fierman) and friend Sophie (Natasha Halevi). Her husband Marcus (Bob Morley) calls and claims he can't make it, the plane just landed. Julie has forgotten to give her cat its medication, Rebecca volunteers to leave so Julie can stay. While at Julie's place, she is attacked and killed. Clearly Julie was the intended victim. After therapy, they move to a new remote house. Marcus has created an AI named Hera who controls the whole house. After a few days, Marcus must go to Hong Kong and leave Julie alone. Clues are dropped. There is 20K in crypto currency missing from his account. Julie's attempt to leave and visit Sophie is thwarted. The previous owner of the house went missing and she seems to have an invisible stalker.

Eliza Taylor must carry the film on her own. She hears things in the middle of the night while taking medication and drinking. It is up to the audience to try to figure things out with only two possible characters being the killer. Not bad, but it has some slow scenes.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Why does media keep doing this

[maddielawson-88316 · 1/10 · 9 March 2024]

The acting is good. The set is good. Everything else is very low budget. The plot is boring. The pacing is boring. Also there is no reason we should be killing pets anymore. It never moves the plot forward and is a waste of time. Film needs to stop portraying killing of animals for no reason.

Eliza and bob do a pretty good job with what they were given. But I am disappointed alittle knowing that Eliza is an executive producer on this project.

The plot is too easy to figure out. I realized who was to blame within 10 minutes of starting. The writers should try alittle harder to make it more interesting to watch and harder to guess what's going on.

Great acting by Eliza and Bob

[ceeemgee · 8 May 2023]

I rarely watch thriller/suspense movies but I miss seeing them together on screen so of course I watched. I was not disappointed with their acting, they both nailed their respective roles.

From the pictures released and synopsis of the movie, it's obvious that there's a killer on the loose. I've seen a lot of theories online about who the possible killer/villain is, but while watching I couldn't tell who it was, the final reveal was certainly, at least for me, a surprise.

What I didn't like about the story was the cheating. I felt it was an unnecessary detail.

It's always good to see them acting and I look forward to seeing them in more projects whether they are together or not.