Maika Monroe’s got a good deal of variety on her filmography, but she’s certainly embraced the horror genre the most. Thanks to It Follows and The Guest, 2014 could be considered a breakout year for Monroe and, ever since, she’s consistently filled her schedule with projects that give her the opportunity to work on especially bold stories and/or with some very promising new voices in the genre, like Watcher director, Chloe Okuno.
The film marks Okuno’s feature debut, co-writing the script with Zack Ford. Watcher stars Monroe as Julia, a woman who agrees to move to Romania with her husband (Karl Glusman) when he scores a job opportunity there. Having left her acting career behind, Julia finds herself alone in the apartment often and, one night, notices that someone in the building across the street is watching her. That evolves into a sense that she’s being followed wherever she goes, making her wonder, is it the same person and could it be the local serial killer dubbed The Spider?
With Watcher celebrating its World Premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, I got the chance to have an extended chat with Monroe about the new film and her experience with the horror genre thus far. Monroe began by recapping what drew her to horror to begin with:
“I grew up loving old classic horror movies, watching Nightmare on Elm Street and The Shining probably way too young, but there was just something about it. Unlike other movies, you always have such a visceral reaction to the genre that was very intriguing to me. And then I ended up becoming an actor and ended up doing a movie called It Follows that — not to gloat about it — but I think that film was the beginning of a change of the horror genre and kind of going back to its original roots of The Shining and Carpenter, and so I think since that time there’s just been so many incredible genre films coming out and so many people involved with the genre, so for whatever reason, I just keep coming back! Especially with this script, I just fell in love with it.”
Along the way, Monroe has dabbled in studio-level films like Independence Day: Resurgence and The 5th Wave. While one might want to stay open to a wide variety of opportunities, it’s quite clear that Monroe has a tendency to lean into smaller, independent features that give her the chance to work with new filmmakers on projects that push boundaries. What’s pulling Monroe in that direction more often than not? She explained:
“There are positives to studio films and a lot of great things that come with that, but I guess for me, I really want to keep loving my job and love what I do, and the way for me to kind of keep falling in love with this form of art is working with people that really inspire me and being a part of the process. And the indie film world, I’m just so drawn to it and it pushes me and challenges me in ways. So yeah, it’s very fulfilling.”
With Watcher, Monroe adds yet another film to her filmography that does just that! While Okuno is a new voice in the feature film space, Monroe was actually well aware of her work before even receiving the Watcher script. About six months before the script came in, Monroe saw and fell hard for Okuno’s award-winning short film, Slut. Monroe further explained:
“So six months pass and in an email, I see Chloe’s name and just absolutely freak out. I’m like, ‘Oh my god. I hope that this script is good because I’m dying to work with her. I think that she is pushing the boundaries in ways that are very interesting.’ Read the script, can’t put it down and then we end up talking on Zoom, and it was just love at first sight. We just hit it off and both had a very similar connection with the script and the story.”
Looking for more from Monroe on Watcher, her passion for horror and her upcoming film, God Is a Bullet? Be sure to check out our full 20-minute chat in the video at the top of this article.