This 2022 psychological thriller follows Julia (Maika Monroe), an American who moves to Bucharest and becomes convinced she is being watched through her window; a heightened risk in Romania since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Having been followed extensively in It Follows, Monroe is a smart choice for this stalker flick, bringing an icy Hitchcock blonde quality to a character whose every move is monitored by the watchful eye of patriarchal forces. There is also a serial killer on the loose for generic purposes.

But Watcher avoids Brian De Palma-style voyeurism for a more feminist approach, never straying from Julia’s perspective; the bold decision not to subtitle the Romanian makes us experience events as she does, like a cross between Lost in Translation and Julia’s Eyes. Her isolation is emphasised by her featureless apartment and Chloe Okuno’s detached direction, capturing not only the creepy feeling of being watched, but the loneliness of not being believed.

The film namechecks Dracula and Charade but lacks Hitchcock’s simmering urgency, with a predictable and implausible story (nobody seems all that bothered by the serial killer and disappearing neighbours) holding it back from the heights of Holy Spider or Sweat. But Monroe and Okuno elevate the thin material, delivering a stark reminder of the consequences of dismissing victimhood as mere (Ro)mania.