"The Watchers" - Review

Mina (Dakota Fanning), an American living in Ireland and working in a pet shop whilst hiding from her past, is tasked to deliver a parrot across the country. Along the way, she ends up lost in woods not on any map, and is forced to take refuge in a glass walled bunker alongside old professor Madeline (Olwen Fouere), nice English lady Ciara (Georgina Campbell, watch "Barbarian") and Irish scamp Daniel. Every night, something watches them, they don't know what, and it won't let them leave the woods...

Alright, here we go.
It's competently shot, nothing too spectacular or groundbreaking, and the imagery of the pet shop, glass and tanks (and the parrot too come to think of it) is all consistent enough without being overdone or out of place. It feels like a first feature, but none too shabby, there's polish here. I always am happy to see Georgina Campbell, and Dakota Fanning does well, I'm happy she's doing well.
Unfortunately I was completely checked out and bored by the whole affair. The atmosphere is never present, aided in no small part by a script which encourages obfuscation and vagueness on the part of the actors for no other reason than a forced drive for "Mystery" and "Mystique". The central casualties are not just the horror and atmosphere, but the mystery itself: there's no dread or build up or surprise to the revelation you know is coming, it's exactly who you think it is, and it is explained to death, yet with no point of reference or baseline to hold against the bizarre behaviour of the people in the bunker. The 3rd act entirely shits the bed, moving out of the woods and with more of the movie still to come: its entire 3rd act is relitigating, re-explaining and repeating a dull twist, which does nothing to recontextualise, and instead aims for a more fairy tale ending which falls flat.
Frustrating, but a companion piece to her father's work. I am curious as to how much of it comes down to the novel it is based on, and how much is the film making itself.