The Watcher in the Woods
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The Watcher in the Woods is a 1980 film best known as an atypical live action Disney movie that has become a cult classic. The film spans numerous genres, including: family, mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, and science fiction. The Watcher in the Woods is also well-known for the notorious rewritings, reshootings, and reeditings of the film's conclusion after it was pulled from theatres, as well as the censoring of the original opening credits. Recently, there were fruitless attempts to restore the film to director John Hough and producer Tom Leetch's original vision.
Synopsis
Decades ago a young girl named Karen Aylwood (Katherine Levy) mysteriously disappeared in a decrepit chapel during a solar eclipse. Nearly thirty years later an all-American family – Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson), Ellie (Kyle Richards), and Helen Curtis (Carroll Baker) – move into a beautiful British manor close to where the event occurred. Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis), the owner of the residence and Karen's mother, notices that Jan bears a striking resemblance to her missing daughter.The girls sense a strange presence lingering in the woods: Jan sees ghostly apparitions of Karen trapped within mirrors, blindfolded and calling for help, while Ellie channels the thoughts of an ethereal sentience that may or may not be the missing girl. Jan assumes the presence is Karen and, in an attempt to help her, tries to unravel the events surrounding Karen's disappearance. However, a veil of fear silences the residents of the tiny village, including Karen's childhood friends and mother, who seem determined to conceal the secrets that could unlock the thirty year old mystery.
Endings
1st theatrical release (1980)
The original ending featured an appearance by the threatening Watcher, a growling alien, which picks Jan up in the chapel and disappears. However, the conclusion was nearly unintelligible because important special effects scenes that helped explain the nature of the switch between Karen and the Watcher were never finished. Instead, the film relied on scenes in which Jan explained things to Ellie to provide closure. (Thus giving the film the reputation of not having an ending.) After the week-long run of sneak previews was poorly received by critics, the film was pulled from theatres and work on a new ending began.The \"other world\"
The "other world" sequence was the intended ending for the film. After the Watcher disappeared with Jan in the chapel, the two were supposed to fly across an alien landscape to the Watcher's spacecraft where Karen was imprisoned in a prism. According to Sam Nicholson, the visual effects supervisor, "For some reason, the girl [Karen] who disappeared imbalanced this alien's craft when she went through this portal. Which in turn caused this alien to crash." (Bosco [link]) The visual effects scenes were not completed in time for the release because the film was rushed out to coincide with Bette Davis' 50th anniversary as a film actor. (Davis was first hired by Universal Studios in 1930.) Rather than finish the existing effects shots, Disney opted to rewrite and re-shoot the ending to create a more benign Watcher.2nd theatrical release (1981)
The second theatrical release featured an ending in which the re-imagined Watcher was less threatening and more supernatural. It was directed by Vincent McEveety, although he was not credited due to union rules which forbade a screen credit unless the director worked on the film for a certain number of hours. This new ending was criticized because the child actors had obviously grown in the interval between the primary shoot and reshoot. The 1981 theatrical release is the "official" version of the movie and can be found on any VHS, laserdisc, or DVD release of the film.Anchor Bay alternates
When Anchor Bay Entertainment obtained the rights to release The Watcher in the Woods on DVD, it spear-headed an effort to find the original film elements and enlist director John Hough's help in re-editing the film. They planned to release two versions of the film: the 1981 theatrical version as well as John Hough's director's cut, which would feature the censored opening credits (in which the Watcher scares a girl and incinerates her doll) and a finished version of the "other world" ending. However, Anchor Bay encountered considerable resistance from Disney. In the end, they were forced to drop the original credits and release the "other world" footage as an abbreviated (14 minute long) and unfinished alternate ending. The other alternate ending (6 minutes long) features different editing and music cues, but none of the "other world" footage. Both of these alternate endings were later included in Disney's own DVD release of the film in 2004.Source novel and screenplay
The Watcher in the Woods is based on Florence Engel Randall's 1976 novel A Watcher in the Woods. Producer Tom Leetch pitched the project to Disney executive Ron Miller, stating that "This could be our Exorcist." (Bosco [link]) Brian Clemens adapted the novel into a screenplay. However, Disney decided that Clemens' version was too dark and had Rosemary Anne Sisson edit it. This script was later revised by Gerry Day in July of 1979. During filming, Ron Miller would often intervene to tone down intense scenes, leading to tension between himself and Leetch.When the film was pulled from theatres, several new endings were penned by various writers at Disney to substitute for the original. After they were revised and rerevised, there were roughly 152 possible endings. (Bosco [link]) The Watcher in the Woods' visual effects designer, Harrison Ellenshaw, wrote the version of the ending that eventually accompanied the rerelease of the film.
On DVD
| DVD Cover | Description |
|---|---|
 | Released by Anchor Bay on April 2, 2002. This version is considered the best of the DVD releases because it comes with a wealth of extras: An audio commentary by director John Hough, a detailed biography of Hough, two alternate endings, three theatrical trailers, and a TV commercial. The DVD also comes with a 20 page collectible booklet. The Anchor Bay DVD is currently out-of-print.
|
 | Released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on March 29, 2004 (only in the United Kingdom).
|
 | Released by Walt Disney Video on August 3, 2004. This version is considered the inferior of the two American DVD releases. However, it is the only version currently available through retailers. This DVD only includes the two alternate endings and two theatrical trailers. It does not come with the audio commentary, biography, third trailer, TV commercial, or booklet.
|
Trivia
Taglines:
- A masterpiece of suspense!
- It was just an innocent game until a young girl vanished... for thirty years.
- It is not a fairy tale.
- Something is watching. Something unknown.
- The most legendary monster of all can now be seen for the first time.
- As you've never seen it before!
- What can't be explained must be explored.
- The film was nominated for a Saturn Award (Best International Film 1982).
- Kyle Richards was nominated for a Saturn Award (Best Supporting Actress 1982) and Young Artist Award (Best Young Motion Picture Actress 1982) for her portrayal of Ellie Curtis.
- When the Curtis family attempts to flee in the middle of a storm, you can see a hose behind their car spraying water (which is supposed to be rain) just before they drive onto the bridge.
- Mr. Keller (Ian Bannen)'s home also served as Hill House in Robert Wise's 1963 horror classic The Haunting.
- The Watcher in the Woods was one of Disney's first films to receive a MPAA rating of PG.
- The film's total domestic gross was approximately $5,000,000.
- In the French speaking world, the film is known as Les yeux de la forêt (The Eyes of the Forest).
References
- [Digital Cinema] Detailed articles on the controversies surrounding The Watcher in the Woods by journalist Scott Michael Bosco.
- [The Watcher in the Woods] at Box Office Mojo.
- [Gerry Day's The Watcher in the Woods script revision lisiting] dated 11 July 1979 at Script City.
External links
- [RetroJunk] Article about the film, novel, and lost footage.
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