Review: In ‘Watcher,’ ‘Rear Window’ meets #MeToo

Films like “It Follows” and “The Guest” have already made Maika Monroe something of a modern scream-queen with a feminist bent. But the psychological acuity and compelling vulnerability Monroe brings to Chloe Okuno’s lean, stylish thriller “Watcher” suggests that her maturing movie-star presence goes well beyond any particular genre. That notion, that it’s Julia who has attracted a creep’s attention — as if it’s her fault — is at the heart of “Watcher.” Okuno’s taut feature artfully reconstructs a Hitchcockian thriller around, yes, a blonde heroine in Monroe, but one with her own gaze and distinct anxieties. But “Watcher” is less about him than it is about the other men in the movie, and how they respond to Julia’s alarm. One dismisses the stalker’s interest as “probably just a little crush.” Under pressure to shrug it all off, Julia’s own certainty wavers.