The Watcher in the Woods

This movie terrified me as a child. So I ran across it and had to buy it. I was expecting it to be horrible and cheesy as an adult, but I was wrong.

This movie has some scary parts, even to adults, and I've watched hundreds of horror movies. This one still creates a few chills.

The basic plot is that a family moves to a new house next to some spooky old lady. One of the daughters starts seeing weird things, like a blind-folded girl in the mirror. She also learns the spooky old-lady neighbor had a daughter that disappeared about 20 or 30 years ago. She investigates this mystery despite the scary things that happen.

I promise this movie will at least give you a few chills. The creepy girl in the mirror still freaks me out. It's hard to believe this was a Disney film.

"The Watcher In The Woods" is a well crafted thriller from Walt Disney Productions. Originally released in 1980, the film had a rather abrupt ending after which extensive credits for an "Other World" sequence followed. The only problem was that there wasn't any "Other World" sequence in the film and Disney finally admitted that the sequence wasn't finished when the film was released and hoped that no one would notice the credits! When the film was reissued several months with the sequence (really a special effects nightmare) it only made matters worse. Almost a year later the film was re-issued yet again with the ending that is now seen. Through all these problems the film is still one of those rare Disney gems that, to this day, remains overlooked. Bette Davis is well cast as Mrs. Alywood, whose daughter disappeared under mysterious circumstances 30 years earlier. She owns a stately English manor which is rented by an American family over the summer. The eldest daughter Jan (Lynn Holly Johnson) begins to notice strange things happening in the home and in the woods surrounding the manor. She also has an uncanny resembelence to Mrs. Alywood's daughter Karen. Slowly the pieces of Karen's disappearance fall into place and Jan along with the three townspeople that were present when Karen disappeared, try a desparate attempt to bring her back from beyond. The film is not well suited for young children (hence its PG rating) but older kids as well as adults should enjoy it. It's a good horror/mystery film without blood and gore.

"The Watcher in the Woods" was made at a time when Disney was getting ambitious, making PG-rated films and dipping its toes into different genres; other efforts, of course, include "The Black Hole", "Tron", and "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Co-written by Brian Clemens ('The Avengers', "Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter") based on the novel by Florence Engel Randall, it tells a story with a very atmospheric feel. As others have said, it has the appeal of a fairy tale.

An American family comes to live in an isolated English country estate owned by a lonely recluse, Mrs. Aylwood (screen legend Bette Davis). In no time at all, the two daughters, teen-aged Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson) and younger Ellie (Kyle Richards) are besieged by otherworldly forces, and Jan realizes something must be done to resolve the case of Mrs. Aylwoods' daughter Karen, who'd disappeared many years ago when she was Jans' age.

Director John Hough and crew make this something worth watching with their moody and stylish presentation. Sometimes the special effects get overly cheesy, and they do tend to stick out a little too much. The reasonably compelling, and never too complicated, story does a decent job of pulling the viewer in, along with especially strong lighting by Alan Hume and camera-work by Jack Lowin and Malcolm MacIntosh. Right from the start these individuals help to create a very weird feel to the proceedings.

Carroll Baker and David McCallum don't get a lot to do as the parents, especially McCallum, but the other adults are all fine, including Richard Pasco as the frightened Tom Colley and Ian Bannen as the cantankerous John Keller. Ms. Davis is wonderful as the distraught old lady who realizes that she could finally find out the truth behind her daughters' disappearance, while Johnson, despite her appeal, really overdoes it in terms of her characters' hysteria.

What's interesting is how many times the ending was altered during the history of this film. It was originally shown at 100 minutes, with an overly abrupt ending, then given an elaborate special effects based finale, and then it was reworked again for the films' re-release the following year. The alternate endings are available on DVD for fans to check out.

The film is not particularly memorable, but it's pretty enjoyable while it lasts.

Seven out of 10.

I have very little interest in movies about the supernatural. Subjects like ESP and other psychic powers just don't interest me. You should keep that in mind, as I am sure this had an impact on my enjoyment of the movie. So why did I watch it? Bette Davis. It's one of the only films she made that I have never seen--this one and "Return to Witch Mountain"--both of which are considered kids' films. However, I noticed that at least in the case of "Watcher in the Woods", it has appeal for all ages and isn't just another Disney family film. No, it has a bit more of an edge and apparently was a deliberate attempt by the studio to branch into PG-rated films for the first time--with this film and "The Black Hole" (a film I really disliked). Apparently, pre-screenings for "Watcher" were not good, so the studio decided to release "The Black Hole" first--though in hindsight, I think "Watcher" was a much better and less 'kiddie' oriented.

The story begins with a family moving to a home in England. Almost immediately, weird things start happening involving the oldest daughter. She starts having what appear to be spooky visions--and they are quite frightening and also sometimes warn her of impending disasters (more than once saving her life). Soon, her little sister starts hearing things--and all this is too coincidental not to mean something is seriously wrong. See the film to find out what happens next.

All in all, a mildly diverting film but one that didn't have a huge impact on me. It's not bad--but lacks scary qualities that might have made it better--like the film sometimes pulled its punches. Still, it's worth seeing.

I watched this film when I was about 7 I think and I am not joking when I say it had a profound effect upon me and many of my friends. I was terrified of the dark for years and even scared to look in the mirror in case there was someone else staring back. Quite how this film was shown at 6pm on a Tuesday has always baffled me. It was a shocking decision by the BBC and they would never get away with it now. I met a guy at university who had also been traumatised by this film and I think we bonded over it because we are still very good friends! My memories of it are quite hazy but I'm sure I started crying half way through and didn't stop until the end; would have turned it off but my 10 year old sister wanted to watch it or rather wanted to watch me cry and I was too scared to leave the room. I'm giving it a 9 for fright value. It was a good film and a good idea.