Forget the canary in the coal mine, or the ominous portent of a bird flying in to a house — there’s no harbinger of doom greater than a bird that supposedly can’t talk suddenly chiming in with a “Try not to die.”
That omen greets Dakota Fanning in the new trailer for The Watchers, the upcoming screenwriting and directorial debut from Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night, who’s also a producer on the film). The movie, based on A.M. Shine’s novel of the same name, stars Fanning as Mina, a 28-year-old artist who winds up stranded in a forest in western Ireland.
While trying to find a way out, Mina ends up falling in with a cohort of strangers, who’ve been trapped for years by a group of mysterious creatures that stalk, terrorize, and observe them each night. No one’s even seen one of these beasts because, you guessed it, no one’s survived seeing one. The trailer is packed with all sorts of eerie, spooky stuff as Mina tries to figure out the mystery of these creatures and eventually escape — which, obviously, only makes them angrier.
Along with Fanning, The Watchers will star Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olsen Four. The film is set to arrive June 14.
The Watchers is one of two big movies for the Shyamalan family this summer, with M. Night’s next flick, Trap, set to arrive Aug. 9. That movie stars Josh Hartnett as (ostensibly) a good-natured father taking his daughter to a concert, only to learn that the police have surrounded the arena in an effort to capture a nefarious serial killer believed to be in attendance. The trailer, released last week, teases one classic Shayamalan twist: Hartnett’s character is the serial killer.
Trap will also notably feature contributions from Shyamalan’s other daughter, Saleka, who’s a musician and will portray the fictional pop star at the center of the movie, Lady Raven. Saleka also wrote several original songs for the film.