The Watcher in the Woods

Disney brings us a family-friendly ghost film (sort of a ghost film, maybe more like a "haunt film") about a music composer, his writer wife, and their two daughters, who move into an isolated English manor nestled quaintly within a spot occupied by a "lively" wilderness that is idyllic yet somewhat eerie, owned by a miserable, lonely old woman named Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis, a bit haggard but her character warrants such a look because of what she lost 30 years ago). Aylwood looks at the older daughter, Jan (not too bad performance from Lynn-Holly Johnson, blossoming at this point into a stunning beauty, in the next film a teenage nympho after James Bond in For Your Eyes Only), staring forlornly.

It is later learned Aylwood's daughter, Karen (Nerak is the name of a dog, spoken to younger sister, Ellie (Kyle Richards) in a whisper perhaps by Karen), disappeared in the ruins of an ancient chapel, destroyed further by lightning during a lunar eclipse which sent the bell crashing down. Karen favors Jan which is why Aylwood is so transfixed on her at the beginning. There's even a moment where Aylwood asks if Jan has certain personality qualities that Karen had. Other details about Karen slowly emerge regarding a game played featuring older members of the nearby village holding their silence about that horrible night and how a ceremony where they held hands during that eclipse could have contributed to her vanishing.

The movie benefits from Davis' name recognition, but I think the way The Watcher in the Woods is marketed can be a bit misleading. She doesn't have a role of some sinister character who poses a threat to our Sisters Curtis; in fact, they bond with her because the cause is finding out what happened to Karen, all three desire this outcome.

With Frances Cuka, Richard Pasco, and Ian Bannen as the trio involved in Karen's possible return if they join forces with Jan in accomplishing what they didn't 30 years ago. Jan has a budding romance with a young man named Mike (Benedict Taylor), the son of Mary (Cuka), who actually plays a major role in perhaps preventing a recurrence of what occured to Karen a second time around. Carroll Baker (a far cry from Andy Warhol's Bad, ha ha) and David McCallum are the parents of the sisters, stuck with parts that are really underwritten. McCallum has a nothing part that allows him precious little screen time, while Baker grows tired of her daughters' odd behavior, believing Aylwood is a bad influence on them, filling their heads full of the supernatural mumbo jumbo that has them acting out and constantly referring to Karen.

The woods are, at first, photographed quite ominously, and yet picturesque, but their importance in the film diminishes as Karen (or so we are led to believe) communicates to Jan and Ellie. Like a ton of the Japanese ghost girl films and haunt films in general, The Watcher in the Woods follows that formula where a spirit provokes a character (or characters) to help his/her cause, whether it be to find out the reasons (the investigation that often requires questioning those who have secrets to hide and aren't willing to share them) behind their plight or to right the wrongs that have never been settled.

I was thinking, just by how the film seemed to say (especially when utilizing the POV at the very beginning) that something creepy was lurking, that the woods would play a much more vital part in the film's resolution, but as Karen (or whatever it is summoning the girls into action) becomes demanding, speaking through the girls, using them to communicate what must be done, the chapel becomes the place of importance. Overall, though, the ending is rather satisfying and feel-good, those considered "in the wrong" are not truthfully "villainous" as much as simply older adults tormented by their scattering in fear because they were indeed frightened children during that fateful night so long ago, and the girls help in solving the puzzle, lending Karen a hand in the process.