Rating: 
Summary: A great scary slumber party movie!!!
Review: Two young girls and their family move into a big old mansion with an interesting past!!!I remeber watching this as a child and just being absolutely fascinated and frightened. It is so fun and suspenseful and scary! I would reccomend this for age 9 and up for a super scary slumber party or nightime movie!! I cannot wait for my seven year old to get old enough to watch it, but right now she is too prone to nightmares after semi scary movies! Also recommend, "The Labrynth" for a fifth grade slumber party movie! Oh the memories!
Rating: 
Summary: It scared me to death when I was nine!!!
Review: Picture: Seven little girls, strewn on the couch in pajama'd glory, eyes wide, faces frozen in suspense. Two girls on the end of the couch, popcorn unnoticed, terrified beyond their wits.
I don't about the rest of the world, but for two best freinds at age 9, this movie was a life-changing event. For years after viewing this film, we could not stop retelling it over and over to relive the delightful chill. I gasped in horrer when my mother, unknowingly, bought me a large, round mirror for my rooming, just knowing that one day I would look into it and see a little girl gesturing for help. My friend and I wouldn't go into the woods even during the day, in a group. I still won;t go into amusement houses.
Rating: 
Summary: Spooky but only a little scary
Review: It seems unlikely that "Watcher in the Woods" would be made for theatrical release today. While the movie may be frightening for younger audiences, it is but spooky for older audiences and the ending has a little bit of weakness, even with the re-vamping indicated by the alternative endings provided on the DVD.
Lynn-Holly Johnson, whose most notable roles were in "Ice Castles" with Robbie Benson and the Bond film "For Your Eyes Only," little sister Kyle Richards and their family move to a beautiful English country home when their father, played by David McCallum of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "The Invisible Man" television series fame, is transferred to England. The family soon encounters ever-eerie Bette Davis as an appropriately scary old lady who does little speaking but looks at the new family intently (and an intent look from Bette Davis in her latter years was always scary). It takes a while for Lynn-Holly Johnson to learn why Davis, playing Mrs. Aylwood, looks at her so intently.
It takes very little time for strange things to start happening to little sister Kyle Richards, who was also on the television series "Little House on the Prairie." Kyle writes "Nerak" on a window and names her dog the same, not realizing that Nerak has a very special meaning to Mrs. Aylwood. Kyle writes on mirrors and says strange things. Lynn-Holly Johnson hears strange voices and has visual hallucinations, which are also eerie and just shy of being scary.
The suspense in this movie is increased slowly but steadily to the climax, when we learn the secret of three people who met in an abandoned church many years earlier, and even then we wonder at the plot twist Disney put into the end of the picture.
The pre-digital age special effects are seamless and effective. This movie maximized the use of minimal special effects to create a movie that is just shy of being scary for adult audiences, but is eerie and spooky to the end. There are a couple of moments when I was concerned that Lynn-Holly Johnson might be harmed when I was still unsure of whether the ghost or whatever it was evil. The "possessions" of younger sister Kyle Richards were even spookier, especially because she seemed to be unaware of each time she did something under the control of the other being. The most effective and perhaps one of the weirdest moments in the movie is when Kyle is speaking under the control of something when she enters the church near the end of the movie. The style of her speaking is effective and is probably one of the high points of the movie.
Included on this DVD are two alternate endings. One is a bit more than 13 minutes long and the other is just over 6 minutes long. Watch the long alternate ending, then the shorter one, and then that used in the movie, and you can see the logic the producer used in modifying the ending.
In the original ending the plot has an interesting creature that distracts rather than enhances the plot. There are more details added in regarding this being that change the tenor of the movie in a much less effective manner than the final version. The shorter version retained a portion of the much longer version, but again the ending distracts rather than enhances the movie. The final version where the unknown is used to the point where the nature of Kyle's possession is revealed is the most effective version. One other problem with both the alternate endings is Bette Davis's over-the-top acting, which caused a lot of laughs. The final version was more effective.
This movie pushes the envelope of what it means to be a Disney made movie, which are stereotypically family oriented. Later Disney created other studios to produce films that were unsuitable for all or most family members and resolved the problem of how to make more intense movies. However, this movie is suitable for most children above the age of 8 or 9 and for some more mature younger children. There are few moments of any real danger, but those few moments and the overall eerie feeling of the movie can cause nightmares for some children.
The DVD also includes trailers, and there appeared to me to be at least a portion of the movie that did not make the final version in at least one of the trailers.
While this movie has some weak points, the overall style is like that of the short-live television series "American Gothic," though much less violent and bloody, and fans of that style or those looking for a relatively family friendly ghost story will find this movie to be worth watching and owning.
Rating:
Summary: Watched Yes. Enjoyed? Well...
Review: [...]
You start out with a ghost story and you end up with "What the f"k?" I was okay with about an hour and ten minutes of this movie. It was the last ten minutes that i cant accept.
Basic setup, a family moves into an old house or manor, whatever youd like to call the large thing. The two daughters begin to tap into the spirits around the place. The oldest daughter seeing images of the girl who was lost long ago while the younger daughter gets used as a channeling board for the spirits.
A good mystery is developed, only to fall apart in the end. I felt mind raped straight through my ear. I kept coming up with possibilities for what it might be and what it was i never would have guessed, mainly because i wasnt pitching from the parking lot. The idea the story ended with wasnt even on the movies playing field.
The directors commentary offered no insight into this. All he did was tell how a shot was done, tell you what was going on in a scene (which you could tell by WATCHING the damn thing!), or bitch about his ending being better than the one they went with. The dvd i had had "two" alternate endings on it but they were pretty much the same thing. ###And for some reason the actress they had playing the grown up little girl looked like a man in a wig???###
I realized later that this movie was based off of a book, which i suppose lets the director off the hook for not telling me why the ending of the movie was so different. Perhaps the book did a better job at transitioning the reader from one aspect of the story to the next because this movie just throws it at you and expects you to catch it, even if you dont have any hands.
This entire paragraph is a ### so you might wanna skip it. The idea behind Karens dissapearance is that these young people, playing what i assumed was a prank because they were initiating her into their group, was actually some kind of witchcraft...somehow. The youngest girl comes in at the end, possesed by The Watcher. Turns out Karen was sucked into an alternate dimension and switched places with this Watcher, whatever it is. Oh wait, its some kind of alien! The deleted endings show this creature which is quite menacing. Its just the idea of this character, after expecting a ghost story and getting an alien, that i have a problem with. The alternate endings also try to explain what happened to Karen, adding in things about negative energies and whatnot which really only make the idea more retarded. Explaining the specifics breifly (as the possessed little girl does) was the best route. I thought perhaps whoever wrote the book had an episode of Star Trek on in the background when writing this ending and decided that was a cool idea to go with.###
For the most part i have no problem referring this movie. Just know that the payoff in the end leaves quite a bit to be desired. Oh and some of the acting is horrible. I swear the one guy had to be drunk the whole time they were shooting this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Scary
Review: This 1980 Disney flick was rumored to have been shelved on its initial test screening why or if this is true is beyond my knowledge.
When a family of four move into a spooky new home owned by none other than Betty Davis strange things begin to happen to the two children both teenage girls.
Of course being that this is a Disney film of an era when kids no matter how scared out of their wits they were had a tendency to investigate and solve capers and strange occurences start snooping about while the local residents appear ominous and cryptic yet reluctant in the end to deny said girls any and all info needed to aid them in their quest for the truth.
So the teenage girls the eldest of the two being a wholesome beauty with feathered blonde hair overact and mug and of course try to figure how just who or what The Watcher In The Wood is and if Davis' daughter 30 years missing have anything to do with one another.
All in all this is some chee-z stuff but the atmosphere and direction however light the film intended its scares to be comes off un offensive and surprisingly watchable.
Likely to terrify the poop out of even the most jaded of youngsters in this day and age.
Good stuff!!!
Rating:
Summary: Something Is Watching. Something Unknown.
Review: Perhaps the watcher in the woods is a female? If so, am I'm not saying it is, I wonder if she's got Bette Davis eyes? Get it? Watcher? Eyes? The Kim Carnes song? A bad joke? Yes it was, but I was stumped for a way to start my review, and inspiration seems to have failed me yet again...The Watcher in the Woods (1981), released by Disney, directed by Englishman John Hough, who also did Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) Return from Witch Mountain (1978), and a couple of episodes for television program Hammer House of Mystery, stars Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, who also appeared in films like Ice Castles (1978) and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981) (the early 80's were pretty good for Johnson, but her career has since taken a detour in the land of the B movies), and Kyle Richards, who started out on the television show Little House on the Prairie, but then moved to major horror features appearing in The Car aka Deathmobile, John Carpenter's Halloween, and its' sequel Halloween II. Also appearing are Carroll Baker (Baba Yaga) and David McCallum, probably most known as secret agent Illya Kuryakin from the popular 60's television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The film begins with an American family, recently re-located to England, looking for a home. McCallum plays the father, Baker the mother, and Johnson and Richards as the two daughters. They find a real deal in an old English manor, owned by a peculiar old woman named Mrs. Alywood (Davis), who happens to live in a smaller house on the property, and is very particular about who rents the larger house, but, on meeting Jan (Johnson), and her younger sister Ellie (Richards), she agrees to allow the family to rent the place. Even before the family moves in, Jan has uneasy feelings about the place, almost like she's being watched (hence the title), and soon afterwards, begins experiencing strange and odd visions, visions regarding Mrs. Alywood's long, lost daughter, missing now for some 30 years. As the visions progress to other, more intense supernatural phenomena, Jan feels compelled to learn the true nature of what's happening to her and her sister, and also to learn the truth about Mrs. Alywood's missing daughter. What terrible secrets does she uncover? Who is the watcher in the woods? Why's that Mrs. Alywood so very creepy? Answers to these questions and more are forthcoming, if you care to watch...(who watches the watcher? I did, and it was pretty good...)
When I purchased this film, I didn't know it was a Disney release. As another reviewer already stated, Disney had an odd period there for awhile, releasing films that didn't necessarily seem very Disney-like, like this film. I actually liked the movie a lot, as it was very suspenseful and I honestly could not figure out the ending until it was revealed. I will admit I found myself somewhat attracted to Johnson, and it felt odd as she seemed to be presented as someone in her teens, but in reality, she was in her early 20's at the time this was filmed, so I felt a lot less creepy. I did think she seemed a bit too old for her part, and after checking on her age, my feelings were confirmed. All the actors did very well, and given their collected past acting experiences, I wasn't surprised. Whoever casted this film did very well, choosing highly capable and experienced actors. Johnson's character did become a bit of a pest as the film worn on, especially as she tries to uncover the dark secrets that now seem to plague her and her sister in visions and the odd possession or two. Davis' character seemed a bit weak and two dimensional, but one is willing to cut the woman some slack, given her body of work, and those very creepy eyes. The sets and location shots all added a great deal to the story, providing a wonderful backdrop to the story. I did find it kind of annoying when Johnson's character kept looking out various windows, as if she could see whatever strange force keeps causing the wee hairs on the back of her neck to stand up...The script was very well done, and tended to focus on the important elements, keeping the viewer in the thick of things. The plot moved along very slowly, almost excruciatingly so, but it did allow for the viewer to ponder and develop their own theories, which will most likely be wrong, as I was...the ending in this film was so very oddly fantastic I doubt I would have ever figured it out on my own. Some may have already given it away in reviews here, which is too bad, as it's pretty mind-boggling. It really seemed to come from nowhere, but did provide a satisfactory, if highly unusual conclusion.
The wide screen print here is very clear and sharp, along with the audio, although the DTS track on the earlier Anchor Bay release (now out of print) is missing here. There are a few extras on this official Walt Disney Home Video release (although less than there were on the pervious Anchor Bay release), including two alternate endings well worth checking out, and two trailers. After watching the alternate endings, I would think they weren't used maybe because they would have been too frightening to younger viewers, or too goofy for older viewers. The ending used in the final product, compared to the alternates, seems the best route to have been taken. Overall, this is a very good thriller, one that forsakes visceral elements for story and genuine suspense. It moves a bit slow, but does reward at the end. It is a Disney film, but probably not one for very young viewers, as it could cause nightmares and the subsequent staining of the sheets.
Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: A great scary slumber party movie!!!
Review: The Out-of-Print Anchor Bay version of the WATCHER IN THE WOODS DVD is up there with the first, one-day release of the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (w/the original ending) as the Holy Grails of DVD collectors.This version has two Alternate Endings which has more special F/X, explains the story better and actually shows what the Watcher in the Woods looks like (the original version you never actually see the Watcher or know its origins). The alternate endings also make more sense (as we follow Jan going into the other Watcher's Homeworld and bringing the unaged Karen back). The movie itself is so-so, but the special features in this rare DVD find makes it worth it.
Rating:
Summary: 20 years later, still scared.
Review: When my parents bought their first VCR, I was allowed to rent any Disney movie I wanted. I chose this one, and I had nightmares for YEARS. There are very scary, abrupt images of a trapped, blindfolded girl in random mirros--frightening for a child. It is a very, very creepy film. Parent should preview it before showing it to children 10 and under.
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