Forest Horror: The Watchers and the ever expanding unknown
“Some days I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched. It’s ludicrous, I know, but I’ve heard branches.”
I was tipped off by my lovely friend, Margarita, to the new release The Watchers by AM Shine. A horror debut that is mostly set in an unknown forest in western Ireland. Last month, she dropped me a line about the book, which I must admit I was clueless about having not received any advance publicity or noticed it previously scrolling on my feeds, but she knew of my love of the uncanny, the unknowable and spooky things. But most importantly, she knows that I like wicked things in creepy forests and am working on my own project that mostly takes place in a strangely set forest. Hurrah for Margarita, book concierge!
The Watchers plays with familiar tropes: on the edge of a forest, cars and motorbikes breakdown leaving their drivers stranded and with nothing else to do they venture on foot looking for help. Of course, we expect these people to be at risk, but what is this risk?
Our main character, Mina who is transporting a yellow bird when her car breaks down at the edge, takes the caged parrot with her as she broaches the forest’s interior and suddenly hears a shout for her to run towards a bunker before possible terror comes for her. Like the caged bird, Mina now finds herself confined to the bunker nicknamed ‘the coop’ (the avian moniker doesn’t go unnoticed).
At night, the forest is swarmed with the watchers, mysterious and deadly creatures who torment the bunker dwellers and whose purpose is not exactly known. Their origin slowly unravels and is rooted in the folklore of the place. The lore is swift, however, and their origins are more of an afterthought as the novel is concerned with how the watchers interact with the forest and evolve within the narrative.
The forest itself is devoid of fauna - there are birds that generally stay high above the ground and for food, traps must be set in the trees to capture them. The birds know the watchers are there and they fear them. There is no mention of other animals passing through.
Overall, the forest is a repetitive perdition for those stuck in it: they are unable to gauge the boundaries and because of this, leaving would be a risk as getting caught away from the bunker when the sun sets is deadly.
The narrative moves both in expected and unexpected ways. It must subvert the reader’s assumptions of the genre as one will realise four characters are simply stuck in a house at night waiting for the sun to rise before these forest creatures once again descend underground (and the cycle repeats). How does each day change? How do the characters change? But most importantly, how does the forest change and expand?
I love forest horror*, a subgenre of both folk horror and gothic horror. It elicits dread from the uncanny and unknowable. It also evokes isolation and fear from the forest and can present a person, being or force that specifically finds its origins from the forest or the edge of the forest. This is very popular in films at the moment, too. Think: The Witch, In the Earth, Hagazussa, The Ritual (yes, I know, the last one was a novel first, but I’ve only seen the film).
Forests are unknowable especially in the West as most of the population is urban dwelling. In reality, forests are finite (or dwindling due to human interference), but when walking through, one can’t help but feel their perception change. It will expand it some places, contract in others. All trees will look alike and a casual hiker will feel as if they’re being watched even on a remote trail.
*I’m actually not sure if this is a subgenre, but for the purposes of this writing I shall name it as such and treat it as a subgenre.
*This post has affiliated links.