WATCHER IN THE WOODS TV

By peeking through the woods at the young girls and their family, the camera acts both as the “Watcher” and as the audience. From the bushes, the camera follows the Curtis family’s car driving down a dirt road toward their new home on Mrs. The score oscillates between a Jaws-like soundtrack and a music box hymn. Watcher opens with a shot of sunlight peeking through the woods. In other articles about The Watcher in the Woods (of which there are very few), journalists are quick to point out that despite its PG rating, the film is legitimately scary. When lightning struck the bell, the teens scattered, but Karen was never seen again. Karen and other local teens were playing a game at the belltower during an eclipse. Aylwood eventually reveals to the girls that her daughter, Karen, died on her 16th birthday. Meanwhile, little sister Ellie begins to hear things whispered in her ear, like the perfect name for her new puppy “Nerak” (“Karen” spelled backwards). The girl, who looks a lot like Jan, is blindfolded and reaches out while mouthing “help me” before she disappears. While moving in, teenage Jan sees a vision of a blonde girl trapped in a mirror. Aylwood ( Bette Davis), who also lives on the property. An American family moves into a big house in the British countryside owned by eccentric and unfriendly Mrs. On the surface, the plot of Watcher reads like something out of a Hammer film. This cumbersome editing process inadvertently formed The Watcher in the Woods into an interestingly complex take on a classic ghost story, granting more intellectual agency to its young viewers.

The rewrite process took almost a year and the film was finally released in 1981. Infamously, Disney was unhappy with the audience reception at the premiere of Watcher and issued extensive rewrites, particularly of the ending. The film was from director John Hough, who also directed Hammer’s erotic vampire film Twins of Evil and Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain. Made in 1980, The Watcher in the Woods was adapted from Florence Engel Randall’s novel by the same name. The Watcher in the Woods is one of Disney’s darker live-action movies, eliciting a fever-dream quality similar to Disney’s Return to Oz. “It looks really scary, do you know what it’s rated?” my dad asked.

WATCHER IN THE WOODS TV

After rustling through the TV Guide, I learned that this horrifying sequence is from a Disney movie: The Watcher in the Woods. “What hardly ever happens?” Jan cries, and Ellie (Richards) snaps awake. Richards, about 10 years old – my same age, at the time – is hypnotized by her reflection, repeating cryptic phrases like “nearly too late” and “hardly ever happens.” Her sister Jan, played by Lynn-Holly Johnson, grills her for more information. As I flipped through channels one Sunday afternoon, my thumb stopped when I glimpsed child actor (now Real Housewife) Kyle Richards in a trance at the bathroom mirror.

Watcher in the woods