A new month means another highly anticipated Ryan Murphy Netflix film to see, and wow, does this look like the greatest type of high-camp horror?
The Brannock family moves into a clean house at the start of the story. The cast includes Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow, and lady of the moment Jennifer Coolidge. Everything is the picture of a white picket fence until letters from a person obsessed with the home, its sinister past, and therefore the Brannocks themselves in the present begin to arrive. Beginning with all kinds of terrors and terrorizing.
The Broaddus family began adjusting to suburban life in 2014 when they moved into a six-bedroom, $1.35 million house in Westfield, New Jersey. However, according to a 2018 article in The Cut, the source for The Watcher, Derek Broaddus afterward got a letter. How did you get to be here? was written there. Have you received a compelling internal call from 657 Boulevard? The house has been my family’s focus for many years, and as it gets close to turning 110, I’ve been given the responsibility of keeping an eye out for its second coming. In the 1920s, my grandpa kept watch over the home; in the 1960s, it was my father. Now is my moment. Are you familiar with the house’s past?
The email first asked more questions than a curious toddler, but it soon turned hostile, criticizing the family for housebuilding work and mentioning private family information like the nicknames of the three Broaddus children. Do you need to fill the house with the youthful blood I wanted, according to another letter? improved for me. Was your previous house insufficient to accommodate the growing family? Or did you bring me your children because you were greedy? I’ll call them and attract them to me once I know their names.
The Broaddus family called the police, who then started looking for the offender while concentrating on the neighbors who would have had a good view. One such neighbor was Michael Langford, who vehemently denied any participation. Even after he died in 2020, his family has subsequently denied accusations that he was responsible for the harassment. It f***g never ends, a sibling told The Independent in a statement. I own the g***n home, and I’m his brother. We were accused of having done something we hadn’t done. Did the cops ever f***g apologize to us? He said, “No, they didn’t.”
The Broaddus enlisted the aid of a private investigator who conducted extensive research on the neighbors and proposed that it may be a previous resident’s employee or a resident who wanted to make an offer on the property but had sufficient income. According to The Cut, all of the investigations came to a standstill since the letters could either be carefully examined for any hints or ignored as the sociopath’s incoherent ranting. Even a priest was requested to bless the home.
The family had an idea: why not demolish the house and construct two new homes on the land since no one would purchase it due to its reputation? However, it was rejected during a meeting of the neighborhood planning committee. Some residents had started to dislike the Broadduses for drawing unwelcome attention to the neighborhood. In contrast, others said that they might have been the ones who sent the letters since they regretted buying the home.
No one has ever been able to locate The Watcher, which seems incredible. As the story gained prominence, more bogus leads emerged, and a Reddit group even joined the conspiracy ideas. Theoretical explanations included a betrayed mistress, an irate estate agent, guerrilla marketing for a horror film, or just “mall goths” causing havoc for laughs. And now that the events have been adapted for Netflix, many more people will be researching the case and potential suspects.
Below is the trailer of The Watcher: