The Watcher in the Woods 1980 123movies

Watch: The Watcher in the Woods 1980 123movies, Full Movie Online – When a normal American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal appearances befall them in this interesting twist to the well-known haunted-house tale. Their daughter Jan sees, and daughter Ellie hears, the voice of a young teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared during a total solar eclipse decades before….
Plot: After an American family moves to an old country manor in rural England, one of the daughters is tormented by the spirit of the owner’s long lost daughter, who mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago during a solar eclipse.
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Ratings:

	6.1/10 Votes: 6,493
	50% | RottenTomatoes
	52/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 111 Popularity: 7.193 | TMDB

Reviews:

Oh so very boring.

‘The Watcher in the Woods’ isn’t necessarily a terrible film, but wow did I feel completely uninterested from (almost) start-to-finish. Dully told plot with a plain cast list. I couldn’t, unfortunately, tell you anything I actually found good about this.

Lynn-Holly Johnson (Jan), a year prior to her appearance in James Bond, is the standout, but that’s only down to a process of elimination to be honest; I found the rest yawnful. They aren’t helped by the writing which fails to captivate how supposedly heavy the premise is, it’s all basically as it seems – obvious. I should’ve cared for Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis) but I simply didn’t feel attached one bit.

It is a weird one due to it not, as noted, doing anything massively negative, it’s just the fact that the (short) run time is such a chore to get through. Not one I’d recommend.

_**This ain’t no conventional Disney flick; it’s genuinely eerie**_

An American family moves into an English country manor for the summer while the mysterious owner, Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis), lives in the guest house. The teen daughter, Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson), discerns something weird is going on, which is linked to Mrs. Aylwood’s missing daughter, Karen (Katharine Levy), from decades earlier. Jan investigates the mystery with the aid of a neighbor (Benedict Taylor) and her younger sister (Kyle Richards). Carroll Baker & David McCallum play the girls’ parents.

“The Watcher in the Woods” (1980-81) is a mystery thick with haunting ambiance, augmented by an unnerving score. DON’T expect typical Disney kiddie fare. Despite inexplicable criticism, winsome Lynn-Holly Johnson shines as the protagonist and carries the film with Davis superlative as the curmudgeonly crone. Baker is still attractive as the mother.

The original ending of the movie wasn’t finished in time so important expositional scenes were cut, which left the story nonsensical. Negative critical response to a test run in spring, 1980, resulted in the movie being pulled from theaters and, after reshoots, a more subdued ending was inserted for its official release in fall, 1981, which is the “official” ending.

The original ending included a cool a skeletal-insectoid alien as the Watcher, who eerily floats in thin air, which also appeared in the 1980 test run, minus an explanatory “other world” sequence (which was the part that wasn’t completed in time). While the 1980 ending fails to properly explain events, I thought it was quite effective for the time period and for this type of movie. Not everything’s tied up, but that’s okay because it’s a haunting mystery movie anyway. The longer version with the “other world” sequence goes overkill with the gobbledygook.

For a more low-key version with an intelligible and more interesting (but less entertaining) climax, which happens to be more faithful to the book, see the 2017 TV movie by Melissa Joan Hart.

The film runs 1 hour, 24 minutes (theatrical version), and was shot in Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire & Pinewood Studios, England, with further studio work and reshoots (directed by Vincent McEveety) done in Burbank, California.

GRADE: B

Decent…if you are into this sort of thing.
I have very little interest in movies about the supernatural. Subjects like ESP and other psychic powers just don’t interest me. You should keep that in mind, as I am sure this had an impact on my enjoyment of the movie. So why did I watch it? Bette Davis. It’s one of the only films she made that I have never seen–this one and “Return to Witch Mountain”–both of which are considered kids’ films. However, I noticed that at least in the case of “Watcher in the Woods”, it has appeal for all ages and isn’t just another Disney family film. No, it has a bit more of an edge and apparently was a deliberate attempt by the studio to branch into PG-rated films for the first time–with this film and “The Black Hole” (a film I really disliked). Apparently, pre-screenings for “Watcher” were not good, so the studio decided to release “The Black Hole” first–though in hindsight, I think “Watcher” was a much better and less ‘kiddie’ oriented.

The story begins with a family moving to a home in England. Almost immediately, weird things start happening involving the oldest daughter. She starts having what appear to be spooky visions–and they are quite frightening and also sometimes warn her of impending disasters (more than once saving her life). Soon, her little sister starts hearing things–and all this is too coincidental not to mean something is seriously wrong. See the film to find out what happens next.

All in all, a mildly diverting film but one that didn’t have a huge impact on me. It’s not bad–but lacks scary qualities that might have made it better–like the film sometimes pulled its punches. Still, it’s worth seeing.

Boo
This film doesn’t run too often which is a shame. It is well done and provides some nice scares along the way. I recall showing this film (DVD) to some classes of “sophisticated” eighth graders brought up on Saw and other such gore fests; they watched and as they were drawn into the story–this film has one–they screamed as they were caught unaware by a well timed scene.

This is probably one of the best Disney films as it treats the audience as if they are intelligent and capable of following a plot. The DVD has multiple endings so you can decide which you like. And you get to see a young David McCallum and watch Bette Davis steal scenes.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 24 min (84 min)
Budget 0
Revenue 5000000
Status Released
Rated PG
Genre Family, Horror, Mystery
Director John Hough, Vincent McEveety
Writer Brian Clemens, Harry Spalding, Rosemary Anne Sisson
Actors Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards
Country United Kingdom, United States
Awards 1 win & 4 nominations
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Dolby
Aspect Ratio 1.75 : 1
Camera Panaflex Camera and Lenses by Panavision, Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Laboratory Technicolor
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm