Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Micransix Crappy film

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

nightroses This has got to be one of the scariest Disney films I've ever seen. I saw this as a kid and found it very unnerving and ghosty. I couldn't follow the storyline as a kid, as I felt too afraid to watch it really. I watched it just tonight as an adult and the film gave me a few jumps and chills. It's a very gorgeously made gothic fairytale about a family who stay in an old mansion in the English countryside. The father is British but his wife and children are Americans. Bette Davies plays a scary lady who owns the house and she comes across as a sinister witch at first but soon you understand that she's always been a grieving mother. Her daughter Karen disappeared decades earlier while playing a game with her friends. Now those friends have all grown up and the solar eclipse is coming, so it's time to see what happens to unlock the mystery and find answers. The camera shots of the swirling woods and trees, the wind, flashing lights, breaking glass, phantoms, whispering voices, all makes a very disturbing and enchanting spooky story.

gavin6942 When a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.I wasn't really aware of this film until Rue Morgue magazine did a focus on it. And wow, it really deserves a wider audience. John Hough is a great director; his "Hell House" is one of my all-time favorites. Here, working more in a family-friendly way, he still manages to terrify.Although the older sister is a terrible actress, at least when she is trying to be emotional, the movie as a whole stands up as creepy and a decent mystery. You can never go wrong with those films where kids know more about what is going on than their parents do.

bkoganbing The Watcher In The Woods marks the Disney Studios only venture into the horror film genre. Bearing in mind that it is the Magic Kingdom that is producing this film there are going to be certain parameters that have to be observed. Ultimately the edge that horror films have to have is lost because you know there will be a happy ending with Disney involved.Your average American family the Curtises have come to the United Kingdom to work and have rented an English country estate, the kind that abound in all those old murder mysteries. Husband David McCallum, Wife Carroll Baker, and daughters Lynn-Holly Johnson and Kyle Richards move into the estate while the owner from whom they rent, Bette Davis lives in the guest house. The usual noises and things that go bump in the night start happening and also an apparition of a young girl around Johnson's age keeps appearing for Johnson. As it turns out years ago during some kind of witchcraft ceremony some of the local kids were participating in, Bette Davis's daughter simply vanished. The same kids who were participants in that event have grown up to be Frances Cuka, Richard Pasco, and Ian Bannen. They've no desire to relive painful memories, but Johnson wants these visitations ended once and for all.Of course Bette Davis heads the cast list, but she has surprisingly little to do here and she's in a role that's not going to require her to chew the scenery. She's not the center of this film despite the billing.Although the cast performs well and there are some nice touches in the film, ultimately The Watcher In The Woods will never rank as a great horror film. Disney just does not do this kind of film well. In fact the DVD I have gives to alternate endings, both of which I found superior to the minor key ending this one has.

Michael_Elliott Watcher in the Woods, The (1980) ** (out of 4)Disney's attempt at a horror movie had all sorts of problems during production, including various endings shot and when the film was finally released it bombed at the box office, which for some reason had the studio go back and re-edit it some more. What's left is pretty bland stuff. A family moves into an old, creepy house where the oldest daughter (Lynn Holly Johnson) begins to see visions of a young girl named Karen who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. Turns out this is the daughter of the home owner (Bette Davis). Some extremely bad performance, bad special effects and a poor screenplay make this a rather unpleasant film even though there are some redeeming qualities. We might as well start with the bad stuff first. The performances are beyond bad here and I times I couldn't help but wonder if they accidentally used an outtake instead of real footage. Carroll Baker and David McCallum play the parents and I thought both overacted something terrible. Kyle Richards plays the youngest sister and she isn't all that impressive either. Johnson is decent in her role and carries the film just fine even though the screenplay doesn't do her too many favors. As for Davis, she is pretty fun in the movie, although I certainly wouldn't call this one of her best performances. She gives us a few nice facial gestures, which will have one reminded of her early days with those great eyes and dazes off into space. The special effects from start to finish are quite laughable and the ones at the end will have you scratching your head. The screenplay is all over the place but I'm not sure if I'd put too much blame on the writers as it's clear the film has had a lot of tampering with and this includes the multiple endings with two of them appearing on the DVD. Outside of seeing Davis, other items that work here is a nice music score and director Hough's ability to build up some atmosphere. The highlight of the film is a scene where the oldest daughter falls into a pond and gets trapped. There are a few good camera shots but that's about it. While watching the film one can't help but think of THE SHINING, which was released the same year.