Check out the first of our double feature of this week’s Movies You Have Not Have Seen But You Should!

The Watcher in the Woods

Welcome back to Movies You Have Not Have Seen But You Should. We’ll have a double feature this week with two films to enjoy. For the first, we will take a little trip back to the 1980s. We will look at the 1980 drama The Watcher in the Woods. The film stars include Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson and David McCallum.

A British-American family decides to move to an English manor out in the country. The parents Paul and Helen Curtis and their daughters Jan and Ellie try and settle into the house. Paul (played by McCallum, best known for his recent work on the TV show NCIS) is a writer while his wife Helen (played by Carroll Baker, who was in such films as Giant, How The West Was Won and Kindergarden Cop) kept watch over Jan (played Johnson who also starred in such films as Ice Castles and For Your Eyes Only) and Ellie (played by Kyle Richards, best known now for being on the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills).

The manor that the Curtis’ family resides in is owned by Mrs. Aylwood (played by Davis). Mrs. Aylwood is drawn to Jan because of the uncanny resemblance that Jan has to Mrs. Aylwood’s daughter Karen who disappeared 30 years prior. That disappearance has the people in the village quiet about Karen and about the rundown chapel in which she apparently disappeared from. However for Jan, this is something that she cannot avoid.

She begins to see and experience some weird events. They center around the disappearance of Karen and around several of the village folk who are linked to Karen. As Jan seeks to find out what happened to Karen, she is also trying to help her sister Ellie who at times seems possessed by some otherworldly figure. While Jan is getting closer to the truth, there seems to be a threat to her life in the process. Will she find out the truth before it’s too late? You’ll have to watch the film to find out.

The film was released by Disney under its Buena Vista Productions. It had an interesting release history. It initially was released in theaters on October 17, 1980. After a few weeks in theaters, Disney pulled the film. It then was re-edited and a different ending was filmed. It was re-released in theaters about a year later on October 7, 1981.

The Watcher in the Woods is available on DVD. It’s not your normal Disney film but it is worth checking out. It’s one that you may not have seen, but you should.