Netflix viewers have been massively creeped out, after learning that the streaming service's chilling new series is actually based on a new series.
Over the last few weeks, Netflix subscribers have been gripped by horrifying true crime drama Dahmer and the accompanying documentary series Confessions of a Killer, while this week Mila Kunis movie Luckiest Girl Alive, about a woman still haunted by a school shooting and a traumatic rape, quickly became the most watched film on the app.
And now it new Netflix release The Watcher that has got everyone talking. The seven part series, featuring a cast including Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, sees a couple Dean and Nora Brannock move into a stunning home - 657 Boulevard -with their children. They instantly fall in love with the striking property after going to a viewing, when Nora bumps into old friend Karen, played by Jennifer Coolidge, who just so happens to be the real estate agent for the house.
Desperate to have the house, Dean borrows a huge amount of money but, his desire to have the house, soon turns into regret as his family become the target of eerie letters and bizarre behaviour from their neighbours. Nora and the children become so freaked out that they move into a nearby motel, while Dean becomes fixated on finding out who is behind the torment, suspecting everyone, including the local police chief and the young guy who fitted security cameras on the property.
READ MORE: The Watcher cast on Netflix as creepy new release becomes instant smash
There are a series of sinister moments in The Watcher, like when Dean has an encounter with a man, who appears to be a former owner of his home with a very dark secret and when he and Nora give chase to someone in a secret tunnel hidden under the house.
Given it is at times, very far fetched, many jaws have dropped at the discovery that The Watcher is based on real life events, with its final moments stating that the case remains unsolved. The Brannocks are based on real-life couple Derek and Maria Broaddus. Just as they were ready to move into 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014, they received their first letter, signed off by The Watcher, with it followed up by more sinister notes in which the writer declared 657 Boulevard was their "obsession."
The Broadduses were so unnerved by the letters, six months after closing on the property, purchasing the house for $1.4 million, they put it back on the market. In the summer of 2019, the family sold 657 Boulevard for $959,000.
At finding out The Watcher was based on real life events, one viewer tweeted: "The Watcher on Netflix was already creepy asf and then my homegirl had to tell me its based on a true story like wtf bruh lmao," with a second reacting: "Started the series "The Watcher" on @Netflix _CA and I'm already freaked out, considering it's based on a true story."
READ NEXT:
