Moving to the suburbs is every family’s dream because they expect to meet new neighbors, have a beautiful street where their children can play, and take peaceful evening walks. However, in the upcoming series The Watcher, the real estate has turned into a nightmare for a new family who has moved into a beautiful house. Based on The Cut’s chilling 2018 article, The Watcher is inspired by the true story of the Haunting of 657 Boulevard by Reeves Wiedeman.
In 2019, Netflix acquired the rights to this creepy story and decided to present it visually to the audience. As the original incident has never been solved, the truth and lies surrounding it differ. However, Netflix has taken up the project to depict this spooky tale of a stalker into a mini-series with seven episodes premiering on October 13, 2022. It recently released the full trailer for the series on its YouTube channel, and here’s a breakdown in case you’re confused about what’s going on.
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A Family’s Dream Home: Not For Long, Though
The trailer begins with a family moving into a new home as they drive through the neighborhood. Maria Broaddus (Naomi Watts), one of the main characters, notices how peaceful everything looks. After they arrive at the house, they try to settle in, and she soon discovers letters delivered in the mailbox. Curious about whom these letters are addressed to, she takes a look at them. The letter says, “Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard… Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.”
As pleasant as that sounds and the family hopes for sweet neighbors, they get a shocking revelation about how the person in the letter is put in charge of watching them, and the house has a history they are unaware of. The family brushes off the letter, thinking it is some kind of prank, but it doesn’t end there. In the following letter, The Watcher himself quotes, “This message will not be the last, I am The Watcher. Your house is my obsession, and now you are too.”
Family’s Troubles: Stalkers Everywhere
Netflix
Following The Watcher’s letter, they receive more threatening letters in which he thanks them for more Young Blood (implying that their children will die), causing them to drown in their misery for choosing the house. Their concern grows as they notice more unusual events, such as a child stalking their house and a man wearing a hood watching them from the street at night.
The next scene shows Carter Brannock (Luke David Blumm), the boy, observing the room next to the hallway and a person passing by in the mirror, hinting that someone else is in the house. The tension in the house rises, and the boy asks his father, Derek Broaddus (Bobby Cannavale), whether he can keep the family safe. The letters continue to arrive, and the stalkers keep changing as if the entire neighborhood is involved in this bizarre phenomenon.
Family Takes Action: Would it Make a Difference?
Derek begins to feel threatened for his family’s safety, and he reaches out to the Westfield police, saying, “We moved out of here ‘cause we want to feel safe, and the opposite’s happening.” However, the police disregard his complaint by saying it is just a prank and he’s not in danger. The scene then shifts to Karen Calhoun (Jennifer Coolidge), who says she believes in Maria and advises them to sell the house. Now, this could hint at which side she’s on, or it could be a tricky scene to mess with the audiences’ minds, even adding the scene where she screams, “The whole world knows what’s going on at your house.”
Later, we see a few more characters gently threatening the family, or it could just be a quarrel with the neighbors. From the next scene, we can sense Derek’s intention to move out of the house, but Maria persuades him by lecturing about how they should not teach children to be cowards. Although it sounds like a brave decision from her, it may turn out to be a bad thing for the family. The scene continues with Derek slowly walking towards a recorder as if he had no idea who put a song on it and presses the stop button while someone passes through the hall behind him.
The following scenes are chaotic, with a slew of new characters appearing and disappearing. The lady who seems to be assisting Derek with therapy, the man with glasses who says, “Something’s about to happen,” and the girl with glasses screams from the window. With all corresponding events, the trailer moves toward the end, and then we see Derek and Maria following a place looking identical to a tunnel. The trailer concludes with the mysterious man running away from them, who could be the same person stalking them inside the house ever since the beginning. So, who could be this Watcher? Or is it all a lie from the beginning?
The trailer gives off eerie vibes with an unusual psychological environment, making it difficult to predict what will happen next. With the release date approaching, we’re not far from the premiere, and you can expect to unravel the mystery of 657 Boulevard soon enough. The Watcher series will soon be available to stream on Netflix.
