roughrider
How many of you know certain film titles, but take years - even decades - to get around to watching them? Without hardly seeing a frame of it, broadcast somewhere?
I have known about The Watcher In The Woods since I was a boy in the early 1980's. I think the book was even available to order through the school book program. I had only seen Lynn-Holly Johnson in one other film, as a figure skater in Ice Castles (1978) - though she was also a James Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only (1981)
The thing that seemd so strange about The Watcher In The Woods, was that it looked like a supernatural horror film - but it was released by Walt Disney Pictures!
This was part of that period - 1979 to 1983 - when Disney was in trouble finding audiences again, and started to experiment with more mature films; The Black Hole, Dragonslayer, Never Cry Wolf, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and others came out in that time. Until they created the Touchstone Picutres division in 1984, where they could put lots of adult content in those films.
On some random YouTube search this week, The Watcher In The Woods trailer popped up. Curious, I finally got my first look at the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DFacqQp8uw
Even creepier than I could have imagined! And Lynn-Holly Johnson is pretty enough to remind me of Scarlett Johansson.
So I saw it via a download, and now think I will look for the DVD. It's not perfect, but very well made. Read about it here if you want to find out the troubled backstory between Disney executives and the filmmakers - who were aiming this to be Disney's 'Exorcist' - but watching it, it's best to walk in cold.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watcher_In_The_Woods
And now, with Disney doing sequels and contemplating remakes of films from that period (Tron & The Black Hole), there's talk that 'Watcher' could be another candidate for a redo.
I have known about The Watcher In The Woods since I was a boy in the early 1980's. I think the book was even available to order through the school book program. I had only seen Lynn-Holly Johnson in one other film, as a figure skater in Ice Castles (1978) - though she was also a James Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only (1981)
The thing that seemd so strange about The Watcher In The Woods, was that it looked like a supernatural horror film - but it was released by Walt Disney Pictures!
This was part of that period - 1979 to 1983 - when Disney was in trouble finding audiences again, and started to experiment with more mature films; The Black Hole, Dragonslayer, Never Cry Wolf, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and others came out in that time. Until they created the Touchstone Picutres division in 1984, where they could put lots of adult content in those films.
On some random YouTube search this week, The Watcher In The Woods trailer popped up. Curious, I finally got my first look at the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DFacqQp8uw
Even creepier than I could have imagined! And Lynn-Holly Johnson is pretty enough to remind me of Scarlett Johansson.
So I saw it via a download, and now think I will look for the DVD. It's not perfect, but very well made. Read about it here if you want to find out the troubled backstory between Disney executives and the filmmakers - who were aiming this to be Disney's 'Exorcist' - but watching it, it's best to walk in cold.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watcher_In_The_Woods
And now, with Disney doing sequels and contemplating remakes of films from that period (Tron & The Black Hole), there's talk that 'Watcher' could be another candidate for a redo.