The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

Director:

John Hough
(more)

Writers:

Brian Clemens (screenplay)
Florence Engel Randall (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

7 April 1982 (France)

Genre:

Family | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Scared of going into the woods? You should be ...

Plot:

When a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.

Plot Keywords:

Eclipse | Solar Eclipse | Country Home | Haunted House | Occult

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Mrs. Aylwood
Lynn-Holly Johnson	...	Jan Curtis
Kyle Richards	...	Ellie Curtis
Carroll Baker	...	Helen Curtis
David McCallum	...	Paul Curtis
Benedict Taylor	...	Mike Fleming
Frances Cuka	...	Mary Fleming
Richard Pasco	...	Tom Colley
Ian Bannen	...	John Keller
Katharine Levy	...	Karen Aylwood (uncredited in the shortened 1981 release)
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Mrs. Thayer
Georgina Hale	...	Young Mrs. Aylwood
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dominic Guard	...	Young John Keller (uncredited)

Directed by
John Hough
Vincent McEveety		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Brian Clemens		screenplay
Gerry Day		uncredited
Florence Engel Randall		novel "A Watcher in the Woods"
Rosemary Anne Sisson		screenplay
Harry Spalding		screenplay

Produced by
Hugh Attwooll	....	associate producer
Tom Leetch	....	co-producer
Ron Miller	....	producer

Original Music by
Stanley Myers

Cinematography by
Alan Hume

Film Editing by
Geoffrey Foot

Casting by
Maude Spector

Production Design by
Elliot Scott

Art Direction by
Alan Cassie

Set Decoration by
Ian Whittaker

Costume Design by
Emma Porteus

Makeup Department
Jill Carpenter	....	makeup artist
Eileen Fletcher	....	makeup artist
Ernest Gasser	....	makeup director
Joyce James	....	hair stylist
Betty Sherriff	....	hair stylist
Bobbie Smith	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Steve Lanning	....	production manager
Basil Rayburn	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hoult	....	assistant director
Michael Murray	....	second assistant director
Paul Tivers	....	third assistant director

Art Department
John B. Mansbridge	....	art director: Other World sequence
Bryn Siddall	....	property buyer
Barry Wilkinson	....	property master

Sound Department
Keith Batten	....	boom operator
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound recordist
Gerry Humphreys	....	sound recordist
Jim Shields	....	sound editor (as Jimmy Shields)

Special Effects by
Danny Lee	....	special mechanical effects: other world sequence
John Richardson	....	special effects
Neil Corbould	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)
Tony Dunsterville	....	trainee pyrotechnician (uncredited)
Ricky Farns	....	special effects technician (uncredited)
Garth Inns	....	special effects technician (uncredited)
John Pohl	....	special effects artist (uncredited)
Ken Speed	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Jack Boyd	....	animation effects: Other World sequence
Jane Boyd	....	animation effects: Other World sequence
Bob Broughton	....	special photographic effects: Other World sequence
Bob Broughton	....	special photographic effects: final sequence
Robin Browne	....	photographic processes
Art Cruickshank	....	special photographic effects: final sequence
Harrison Ellenshaw	....	designer: final sequence
John Emerson	....	alien designer: Other World sequence
Andy Gaskill	....	alien designer: Other World sequence (as Andrew Gaskill)
Joe Hale	....	alien designer: Other World sequence
Joe Hale	....	animation supervisor: Other World sequence
Rick Heinrichs	....	alien designer: Other World sequence
Don Henry	....	visual effects: final sequence
Dick Kendall	....	visual effects: final sequence
Brian Longbotham	....	kinetic light: Other World sequence
David Mattingly	....	matte artist: Other World sequence (as David B. Mattingly)
David Mattingly	....	visual effects: final sequence
Sam Nicholson	....	kinetic light: Other World sequence
Henry Selick	....	alien designer: Other World sequence (as C. Henry Selick)
Tad Krzanowski	....	model effects (uncredited)
Jon Sorensen	....	visual effects camera (uncredited)

Stunts
Vic Armstrong	....	stunt supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Kevin Brookner	....	assistant camera
Godfrey A. Godar	....	additional photography
Jack Lowin	....	camera operator
Malcolm MacIntosh	....	camera operator

Other crew
Peter Bennett	....	location manager
Rita Davison	....	location manager
Kay Fenton	....	continuity
Leon Harris	....	creator: Other World sequence (as Leon R. Harris)

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Pictures

Distributors

• Toho-Towa (1982) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Pictures

Other Companies

• Anvil Studios  music recording facility
• Lee Lighting  lighting
• Panavision UK  lenses and Panaflex camera
• Technicolor  colour

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Australia:G | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

This was to be Disney's first PG-rated movie. However, poor test screening convinced the studio to re-shoot the ending and hold the release until April 1980 (and it bombed). Thus, The Black Hole (1979) became the first Disney movie with a PG rating.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the mother gets scared about what is happening to her daughters and decides to flee, you can see a hose behind the car providing the rain just before they drive onto the bridge.

Quotes:

Jan Curtis: Something awful happened here, I can feel it, something AWFUL!

Movie Connections:

References The Haunting (1963/I)

Dark Disney.

This is a movie I'll always remember as one of the ones that sparked my interest for the horror genre, and yet, I only saw it just now from start to finish for the very first time. There's a nice (albeit totally irrelevant) story behind that. Back in my grade school years, it was tradition for the entire class to watch a movie on the Fridays before each major school holiday. After enduring multiple gentle Disney movies, like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Robin Hood" and "Mary freaking Poppins", our second grade teacher suggested to watch a slightly more mature and serious film, this being "The Watcher in the Woods". Personally I was very enthusiast, but several of my wimpy classmates got too scared during the opening credits already and the teacher decided it would be better to turn it off. Darn soft kids! The atmospheric and unsettling opening sequences (showing images of a forest guided by remotely eerie music) were exactly what fascinated me, and I'm sure these brief images contributed a lot to my current obsession with everything that involves horror. For some reason I never saw it again until now, nearly 20 years later, and that's quite a shame because "The Watcher in the Woods" is a movie you're supposed to see at young age. It's primarily a fantasy film, and those are far more appropriate for child-audiences because their imagination is far more vivid and the substantial defects are easier to overlook.

These are two fundamentally required characteristics when watching the movie, by the way. You need to have a vivid imagination and complete the story in your own mind (because the script is full of holes and suffered from drastic re-writes) and you definitely need to look past a lot of shortcomings. It's basically an ordinary supernaturally themed mystery, but obviously without shocking death sequences and complex undertones because it's a Disney film. The model Curtis family moves into an ancient English countryside mansion bordering on an immense forest. The owner, the peculiarly behaving Mrs. Aylwood, is very strict regarding her tenants, but she welcomes the Curtis family because the teenage daughter Jan reminds her of her own daughter Karen, who inexplicably disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Almost promptly, the youngest girl Ellie starts hearing silent voices and Jan notices a frightening presence as if someone's constantly watching her from within the woods. Jan develops the impression that Mrs. Aylwood daughter might still be around and that her spirits is trapped in the woods.

The finished product clearly suffers under the massive amount of re-edits, re-shoots and re-writes of the script. It looks as if the creators realized at a certain point that the movie was too sentimental and/or not suspenseful enough, so the quickly added improperly elaborated hints towards alternate dimensions, solar eclipses and bizarre initiation rites. The last 15-20 minutes are a messy hodgepodge of ideas and, eventually, you're left to your own devices to copy and paste the conclusion together. "The Watcher in the Woods" is at its most effective when talented director John Hough uncannily trolleys his camera through the thick and sinister woods, or when Bette Davis gives a one-woman-show as the intriguing Mrs. Aylwood. The music is excellent and the special effects showcased during the finale are guaranteed to astound young viewers with a healthy interest in the macabre.