The Watcher in the Woods

When I was younger I saw this film for the first time and it made an impact, although with age of course the memories faded. However, when I spotted the recent release DVD of this title I had to get it. I felt compelled, and so I snatched it up. When I sat down to watch it, I was instantly drawn into a world of eerie mystery that's surprisingly well-done, especially for a film that bears the name of Disney, notorious for their sanitized, 'family-friendly' fare. This certainly wasn't anything like most of their films, and it was a welcome change. I found myself putting together the mystery a bit faster than the characters, although I was indeed thrown a curve by the ending, which was still quite impacting. The thing about it is, even the alternate endings included on the DVD are still just as impacting, each in its own way. Each one makes quite an impression, and each one resolves the story without tying up each loose end in an impossibly pat way. The 'default' ending is abrupt but poignant, whereas the others are more drawn-out and overtly horrific. But the buildup makes it so, and the buildup is absolutely faultless, especially with the inclusion of the understated and brilliant Bette Davis.

I was absolutely floored by it. Watcher in the Woods is every bit as brilliant a horror film as any other much-discussed title, if not better. It's reminiscent of Lovecraft in many ways and yet gives a distinct impression of a dark, dark fairy tale. The acting is very good, the cast excellent, and the settings simple and isolated yet stunning and evocative. Every fan of film, horror fans in particular, must see The Watcher in the Woods. The DVD release is something that collectors too will enjoy, with the trailers and alternate endings cleaned and clarified for their magnificent DVD presentation. This is a film that should, and will, live in history as one of the hidden gems of film.

Ok, it might not be the greatest movie out there, but I really enjoyed it when I was a kid. And because of that the few times since then that I have watched it, I have held a kind of fascination with it. But alas, my opinion is tainted by childhood. That scary (oh so scary) scene in the fun house haunted me for a long time. And Bette Davis, she is awesome.

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.

"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 other worldly forces, and Jan realizes something must be done to resolve the case of Mrs. Aylwood's daughter Karen, who'd disappeared many years ago when she was Jan's age. Director John Hough and crew make this something worth watching with their moody and stylish presentation. Sometimes some cheesy effects get utilized, and they do tend to stick out a little too much. The reasonably compelling, and never too complicated, story does a good enough 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 being appealing enough, 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 abrupt ending, then given an elaborate special effects based finale, then reworked again for the films' re-release the following year. The alternate endings are available on the DVD for fans to check out. It's not particularly memorable, but it's pretty enjoyable while it lasts. Seven out of 10.

This is a movie I'll always remember as one of the ones that sparked my interest for the horror genre, and yet, I only saw it just now from start to finish for the very first time. There's a nice (albeit totally irrelevant) story behind that. Back in my grade school years, it was tradition for the entire class to watch a movie on the Fridays before each major school holiday. After enduring multiple gentle Disney movies, like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Robin Hood" and "Mary freaking Poppins", our second grade teacher suggested to watch a slightly more mature and serious film, this being "The Watcher in the Woods". Personally I was very enthusiast, but several of my wimpy classmates got too scared during the opening credits already and the teacher decided it would be better to turn it off. Darn soft kids! The atmospheric and unsettling opening sequences (showing images of a forest guided by remotely eerie music) were exactly what fascinated me, and I'm sure these brief images contributed a lot to my current obsession with everything that involves horror. For some reason I never saw it again until now, nearly 20 years later, and that's quite a shame because "The Watcher in the Woods" is a movie you're supposed to see at young age. It's primarily a fantasy film, and those are far more appropriate for child-audiences because their imagination is far more vivid and the substantial defects are easier to overlook.

These are two fundamentally required characteristics when watching the movie, by the way. You need to have a vivid imagination and complete the story in your own mind (because the script is full of holes and suffered from drastic re-writes) and you definitely need to look past a lot of shortcomings. It's basically an ordinary supernaturally themed mystery, but obviously without shocking death sequences and complex undertones because it's a Disney film. The model Curtis family moves into an ancient English countryside mansion bordering on an immense forest. The owner, the peculiarly behaving Mrs. Aylwood, is very strict regarding her tenants, but she welcomes the Curtis family because the teenage daughter Jan reminds her of her own daughter Karen, who inexplicably disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Almost promptly, the youngest girl Ellie starts hearing silent voices and Jan notices a frightening presence as if someone's constantly watching her from within the woods. Jan develops the impression that Mrs. Aylwood daughter might still be around and that her spirits is trapped in the woods.

The finished product clearly suffers under the massive amount of re-edits, re-shoots and re-writes of the script. It looks as if the creators realized at a certain point that the movie was too sentimental and/or not suspenseful enough, so the quickly added improperly elaborated hints towards alternate dimensions, solar eclipses and bizarre initiation rites. The last 15-20 minutes are a messy hodgepodge of ideas and, eventually, you're left to your own devices to copy and paste the conclusion together. "The Watcher in the Woods" is at its most effective when talented director John Hough uncannily trolleys his camera through the thick and sinister woods, or when Bette Davis gives a one-woman-show as the intriguing Mrs. Aylwood. The music is excellent and the special effects showcased during the finale are guaranteed to astound young viewers with a healthy interest in the macabre.