Disney’s The Watcher in the Woods Was So Bad It Was Pulled From Theaters

If you happen to watch any of the movies Walt Disney Studios In the 80s (or 70s, for example), you could see that the themes and ideas of the films were often a bit dark for a younger audience. This was because films like George Lucas star wars and steven spielberg Jaws These films have dominated the box office and have shifted the audience dynamic. Gone are the days of good-natured characters dancing and singing their way to the end, and in are high-stakes thrillers with emotional arcs (due to the teen audience’s dominance of the box office). Understanding this (and hoping to carve out a niche for themselves in the process), Disney moved towards the horror genre..

1983 Something evil is coming this way. Death marches were depicted by tortured adults who were cursed because they wanted to reclaim their youth. Another example is the 1985 film Back to OzThe film begins with a young girl named Dorothy being taken straight to a mental hospital because she wants to go back to Oz. While there are a few other titles that could be mentioned, this trend didn’t have lasting appeal, and the House of Mouse once again found success with some lighter titles in 1989. But before all that happened, the first film in Disney’s scary movie lineup had a very difficult backstory—and it’s a story that needed to be told.

Disney once tried to take over the horror market.

First released on April 17, 1980, The Watcher in the Forest It was a supernatural horror film (sounds promising, doesn't it?) based on the novel of the same name published four years earlier by Florence Engel Randall, starring Bette Davis, Lynn Holly Johnson, and a young Kyle Richards. This first theatrical step in a new direction for Disney had all the hallmarks of a slow-building, intriguing story..

Despite the bad times, a family decides to move to a large mansion in the remote countryside due to the cheap price. The owner of the property is a strange old woman who hides some heavy secrets, and as the title clearly indicates, there is something or someone watching from the woods. The mystery behind who is haunting/possessing our two young colleagues is revealed slowly and carefully, leading viewers on a unique adventure that surprisingly tries to combine horror with science fiction. This fusion, unfortunately, is what seems to be a curse. The Watcher in the Forest.

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She is considered one of the best actresses in Hollywood history, The late actress Bette Davis gave an excellent performance as Mrs. Alliwood.This is one of the few reasons you’ll be drawn to this 80s Disney film. It continues to tease with every word spoken and every demeanor enigmatic. While Johnson and Richards are new to mainstream acting at this point in time, the duo delivers compelling enough performances that you care about their characters when danger arises. The problem here was rushing to meet the deadline. (Disney wanted the film to coincide with Bette Davis' 50th birthday), which not only hurt the visual effects, but also the film's already complex climax.

Does the Watcher in the Forest have aliens, ghosts, and occult science?

Viewers decided to take the short route and cut the ending short rather than clean up some of the visuals associated with the outer space ending, and were left with a frustrating sequence of narration and exposition. Originally, she was taken by a giant, skeletal alien to a spaceship where she was to rescue Alliwood's daughter (which is pretty terrifying), Most of this sequence has been removed. (primarily a Starcraft sequence), and instead, a strange beam of light brings the two girls back without any explanation.

Then, at the end of the movie, Jean explains who the Watcher is and what happened there to Ellie. This dialogue-based presentation was not enough for critics. who targeted this twist ending. The Hackensack Record referred to the misinterpreted ending as containing “more absurdities than answers,” as Vincent Canby of The New York Times Challenge readers to “give a coherent translation of what ultimately constitutes an interpretation.”

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I was horrified by this overwhelming negative response, Disney pulled the film after just one week.While distracting moviegoers with a special re-release of Mary Poppins (From all movies), Numerous re-imaging and reconstructions have been done.Not only was the StarCraft interior scene and the alien character removed, but a very creepy intro where the “Watcher” chases a little girl through the woods and then attacks her doll with a laser beam, causing it to slowly melt and disfigure was also removed. This was an unnecessary scary shot to start the movie with. It probably would have been better left out.

“The Watcher in the Woods” is now a classic movie.

Instead of a very forced conversation between Jean and her little sister in the final moments, Eli (who is obsessed with the Watcher) explains where Jean went after she disappeared during the alien abduction. This feels more natural because the adults in this scene desperately want an explanation for what just happened. In conclusion, This version was released 11 months later.On October 9, 1981, this was the version released on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. The Blu-ray disc (which is very expensive these days) contains the first “uncut” version.

Disney's quick thinking seems to have paid off most of the time.like Hollywood Reporter, The New York Timesand Associated Press Everyone has said in different ways that The Watcher in the Forest The film was made even more terrifying and suspenseful by the revised ending. The film even received a few award nominations in 1982, not to mention a Lifetime adaptation 36 years later in 2017. If you want to see Bette Davis’ mesmerizing performance, are curious about the different alternate endings, or just want to see the insectoid alien in action, The Watcher in the Forest Several versions are available on YouTube.Unfortunately, this kind of easy availability shows that Disney would rather forget its mistake than try to promote it to modern audiences.