Review: The Watcher in the Woods

Musician David McCallum and his family (including wife Carroll Baker) stay in an estate in an isolated part of the English countryside. It’s not long before sisters Lynn-Holly Johnson and Kyle Richards start to experience weird shit, including the unnerving sensation that they are being watched by someone or something in the nearby woods. Bette Davis plays the owner of the estate, and Sir Ian Bannen plays another nearby resident.

Directed by John Hough (“Twins of Evil”, “The Legend of Hell House”, the underrated “Brass Target”), this 1980 ghostly flick is about the closest Disney have gotten to horror, and all things considered it’s not too bad. In fact, if it weren’t for the godawful visual FX and the fact that there’s ultimately not much story, it might’ve been worthy of a recommendation. It’s not scary of course, but for what it is, it’s a bit more intense than you might expect. It’s also been expertly shot by Alan Hume (“For Your Eyes Only”, “Return of the Jedi”, “Runaway Train”, “A Fish Called Wanda”), and wonderfully lit in particular. The house exterior doesn’t look like much until you add some fog. Yeah, that’s more like it. Also, there’s a great use of something very simple: Blowing leaves on the ground. So simple, but so very effective.

I was less enamoured with the music score by Stanley Myers (“The Deer Hunter”, “The Story of O Part II”), which is a tad corny and juvenile. I get why, but I’d prefer something a little more serious. As for the performances, former ice skater Lynn-Holly Johnson is better than usual. She sure is a big ‘ol ball of perk and pep (at least early on), which may annoy some more than others. The best performance unsurprisingly comes from grand old dame Bette Davis, one of the best of her late career performances. Looking all gloomy and haunted, she’s really good, if not in the second half of the film as much as I would’ve liked. Speaking along similar lines, I like David McCallum and particularly Carroll Baker, but they might as well not have turned up at all for all they really get to work with here. Also not helping matters is that McCallum seems more of a nerdy uncle-type than a musician father. The one surprisingly poor performance in the film comes from one of my favourite character actors, Sir Ian Bannen, who is surprisingly a bit amateurish. He doesn’t get much screen time and tries a little too hard, perhaps.

 

The FX are awfully dated (and some voice work at the finale is just dopey), the story stretched a tad too thin, and some of the actors are wasted. Still, this is a pretty decent stab at a supernatural horror/fantasy from Disney. I really liked some of this, if only mildly engaged by it overall. It’s OK. Based on a novel by Florence Engel Randall, the screenplay is by Brian Clemens (“Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde”), Rosemary Anne Sisson (“The Black Cauldron”), and Harry Spalding (“Surf Party”, “The Earth Dies Screaming”). 

Rating: C+