With all the talk about the upcoming solar eclipse and the recent release date announcement of Stranger Things: Season 2, my mind has been wandering back to a film I used to love as a little girl.
I was probably much too young to be watching it alone, and I'm positive this film single-handedly paved the way for my obsession with young adult horror, igniting a love affair with watered-down horror stories aimed at pre-teen girls. By age 10, I was an avid reader of the R.L. Stine's Fear Street series and Christopher Pike, and I could easily handle most of the adult themes of Stephen King.
For perspective, I read Nightmares & Dreamscapes on a camping trip the summer between 4th & 5th grades.
In case you're wondering, no, my parents weren't really paying attention.
Unfortunately, this Disney failure (now turned cult classic) did not stand the test of time, but nevertheless, it will be one I am sure to show to my son when he is ready for such a story.
The Watcher in the Woods started with rocky theater release, then an even rockier edit and re-release to an audience who had already grown cold.
In 1980, the Walt Disney Company was experimenting with live-action films that had more mature themes than their previous releases. As you can imagine, this was an uncertain time for a company who had made themselves known for light-hearted animated children's films.
Though the film holds no gore whatsoever or even any themes that are truly realistic or frightening, Disney felt compelled to warn audiences that they weren't about to view the typical family night movie.
Set in the English countryside, the movie tells the story of an American family who moves into a home and is plagued by, among other things, visions of a blindfolded girl dressed in white.
After meeting the property's owner who lives in the cottage next door, older sister Jan discovers that the owner, Mrs. Aylwood, has been missing a daughter since the last solar eclipse happened 30 years earlier.
Jan is then stalked by a couple of men who seem to have sinister intentions.
But don't worry, that's just friends of the long-missing girl who think they are responsible because of a seance held in an abandoned chapel at the time of eclipse. They think that Jan is the spirit of the missing girl haunting them.
Once that is all cleared up, Jan sets out to help them figure out what happened during the solar eclipse 30 years prior.
As an adult, I can appreciate this movie for its cinematography, occasional use of beautiful buildings & wide landscapes, and it's decent use of cinematic lighting.
However, my favorite thing about this movie is the presence of the amazing icon, Bette Davis.
In true Bette Davis style, when she first appears she steals the scene.
Her appearances are few and far between, but her performance stands out. Bette Davis seems to barely have to give any effort to make Mrs. Aylwood come alive. Her daughter's name, "Karen", passes through her lips cracked and tormented.
Mrs. Aylwood is, without a doubt, the most relate-able and three-dimensional character in the film.
Watcher in the Woods was Bette Davis's last film before her debilitating stroke only three years later.
I'm not going to lie to you and lead you to believe that the ending will leave you with any sense of satisfaction.
The story ends abruptly, leaving very little explained, and what is explained is laughably vague and lacks a basic understanding of physics & astronomy.
The unabashed buildup of suspense and creepy moments did exactly as they were designed to do - scare the hell out of a young girl.
I think that a kiddo with the maturity to watch a show like Stranger Things might get a kick out of The Watcher in the Woods.
Just don't break their little brain trying too hard to explain how it isn't possible for Mrs. Aylwood's daughter to have disappeared due to the "magnetic pull of the eclipse".
You can watch the full trailer to The Watcher in the Woods below:
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