Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

FlashCallahan When a normal American family move into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal appearances befall them. 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.....The early eighties saw Disney go through a dark period with their live action films. Now, there are two kinds of dark. There is Condorman dark, and if you've see that abomination, you'll know the dark I'm referring to. And then there is the blatant darkness of Something Wicked This Way Comes, and this little curiosity piece that went into the abyss for a few years, before being released in eighty one.And it's easy to see why Disney had so many problems with its release. Firstly, it's not very scary, we just see a lot of blue lights flashing. And secondly, Davis aside, it's not very good either.We get the majority of the film with the girl from For Your Eyes Only, and one of those putrid housewives of Beverly somewhere, either listening or hearing strange things.Add a strange Wicker Man vibe to the locals, and you have this strange hodge podge of a film, too sinister for children, too silly for adults.So it's only worth watching to see Davis in a role where she does nothing else but think about paying her bills.It's not terrible, it looks good, and the house and the fun fair scene are quite creepy, but it's not surprising that the film is very difficult to find.

hellraiser7 The woods to me can be one of the creepiest places to be because you never really know what's hidden out there.This film is another underrated and forgotten gem. I'll admit discovering that Disney made a horror film was unreal to me, I felt this was great because it really showed that Disney was starting to take chances they were starting to take the next step. It's a shame Disney didn't make more horror films, I really would of liked to of seen them.The film seems like a lost anthology tale for the TV show "Are you Afraid of the Dark" because like with that show this is a horror film for the family film genre which I think is really cool since we really don't have that many. It is a very tricky feet trying to mix both the horror and family genre, but this film I feel is one done right because it's able to successful balance out both without watering itself down.I really like the production value and even cinematography of the film which I think have some memorable visuals; I really liked how the film used the forest locale, the use of light and shadow which made the woods a character in itself as it emits a sense of mystery and menace. I even like the ruined chapel location which almost looks like part of a level in the video game "Castlevania" which looked spooky from it's Gothic feel and structure and amount of darkness that emitted almost a creepy feeling. Or even the viewpoint of the Watcher which adds to the creep factor because you not sure what this thing or entity is about to do, even thought it's not doing anything now you know it will soon.Music is solid, though not memorable which to me is one of the weak points of the film, I wish this film had a more memorable score but still it was good enough to give the film the right moodiness it has.I really like the story, it's not really a ghost story there really isn't a ghost per say it's more of a psychic mystery thriller, which I think is cool since we don't get nearly enough of those in the horror genre. The suspense is solid, yeah it's a slow burn but I don't mind because as the film gets further things start to escalate. You really have a creepy and disorienting feeling throughout the film because your not entirely sure what's going to happen next or even what all this is leading up to. The mystery I think is very good, it has a great amount of intrigue, there are clues but they're not obvious, we can see them but we can't entirely decipher their meaning or know how they really go together; and I like that feeling it really makes it feel like a real mystery, causing us to think and figure things out. Characters I think are pretty solid from the adult characters mainly Mrs. Aylwood played by Bette Davis one of her last roles. She is pretty much that mysterious wise women on the side of road character but I really like how you actually kind feel for her, as we see throughout the years she has been plagued by this mystery of not knowing what happened to her daughter which is a terrible feeling and in a way just motives you to want the protagonists to solve the mystery and win.And I like both the young female protagonists. Kyle Richards is solid as Elle Curtis and on a side note this actress played Linsey in John Carpenter's "Halloween" which is cool since that's one of my favorite horror films and that's two horror films in a row for the actress which isn't bad. Anyway, I like that she's not some stereotypical annoying little sister but she a sweet girl, she has a bit of charisma, loves dogs, despite young she's not totally naive she does exercise some intelligence.Lynn Holy Johnson I also thought was solid/decent as Jan Curtis, her character is solid, she takes charge, cares for her little sister; there's a good back and forth between both of them, and I like that she's very open doesn't dismiss what's happening as things shes just seeing. Both the sisters are psychics but don't entirely know it or have no idea how to control it, each of them have the ability but it works different. For Elle it's mainly in hearing, she is able to hear voices from a distance or pick up sounds no others can hear, much like with a dog that can hear certain frequencies. Jan it's sight, where she can see images for a certain amount of time and occur at different times.This makes both sympathetic because their in the same boat as us, their struggling to figure out what in the hell is going on, why this is all happening to them. There are some memorable images like one scene which was creepy was Jan putting up a mirror and then when she looks at it again she doesn't see her reflection. But for me the best scene was in the mirror maze when we see Jan suddenly see multiple images of a girl, blind folded and from her lip movements is constantly saying help me.What also makes this films stand out are two of it's endings. I personally really liked the original ending they choice for the film it felt right and well balanced, though I even liked the alternate ending which I thought good let alone even stranger, I won't say what it is you just have to see both for yourself.Like any sight in the woods is worth a watch.Rating: 3 stars

brownish33 i saw this only once when i was a kid. i vaguely remembered it, all i remember is a girl with a blindfold and a church. so many years later, my mom saw this on DVD and picked it up, thinking we might enjoy it. we had recently seen "something wicked this way comes", another movie i vaguely remembered as a child, which was really scary and excellent film, especially for Disney, and was very dark, and we thought "watcher" would be in the same vein as "wicked", since they were only made a few years apart. but it was definitely not. it was far worse! the ending with the "alien" thing or whatever, and some explanation of an "aternate reality" totally killed it for me. holly Lynn Johnson, though definitely a cutie, was REALLY bad acting. like, annoyingly bad. the story seemed to take forever to pick up, i didn't understand. Davis was not very good either. nothing stood out. i was especially disappointed that it wasn't a "ghost story" in the end, but some kinda scifi plot with switching the bodies back and forth because of some kind of weird chant the kids did in the chapel. didn't get it at all, and it got WAY too scifi. i thought the whole time it would be something supernatural. just lame. something wicked this way comes which came out a few years later was FAR Superior, genuinely scary, great acting, and just all around a better film from Disney studios.

MartinHafer 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.