The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

So I had yet another sleepless night and utilizing my recent habit of watching movies late night to help me sleep and fuel my already fantastic imagination, I decided to watch a horror movie as opposed to the usual animated movies I watch.

I had to be very careful in choosing a horror one since I dislike blood and gore in general. Hard to find a horror movie WITHOUT blood and gore in it.


To cut it short, I decided on The Watcher in the Woods. It's Walt Disney so yeah blood and gore is out.

It's about an American family who gets an abandoned English manor far into a small town. In a nearby cottage, lives a proprietress who had lived there since the time of dinosaurs.

A mother, a father, two daughters of big age gap. The older one felt uneasy about the house the soon as she enters it. She sees someone else in her reflection. Her sister sometimes says the strangest things. The proprietress with her icy and unforgiving gaze unnerves the older girl to no end.

Jan, as she is affectionately called, is bombarded with clues and visions that makes no sense to her.

It was revealed after some excruciating hours that the proprietress' daughter had gone missing of a play-date gone wrong with 3 of her friends on a stormy eclipse night. No one knew what happened to her, no one knew how she went missing. Convinced that it was the missing daughter's spirit that's trying to reach out for help. Jan, puts together pieces of the puzzle and tries to solve the mystery of the missing girl.

This movie had a good premise and sooooo much potential.

Ruined by bad acting and execution. Poor choice of actors has had a hand in it. The only saving grace was Bette Davis (the proprietress), a renowned cinema legend. Only her acting had any kind of believability at all.

An inconsistent storyline and a contrived ending for the movie ruined it's potential too.

Watch it only if you are utterly bored. This no-brainer movie serves that purpose well.

Note: this would make for an excellent remake, with proper casting and execution and a little change in the storyline - this would be a good summer box office, considering the original one bombed, no surprise there.