A little disjointed but still a strong entry into the young adult horror genre that Disney was playing with in the early 1980s.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 21, 2024

'has plentiful jump scares'

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 8, 2022

The Watcher in the Woods is actually not bad at all and brings back happy childhood memories of such other Disney items.

| Apr 14, 2020

It doesn't settle for cheap boring scares and or cheap gory scares.

| Original Score: B | Jun 19, 2019

It symbolizes the confusion that has been undermining Disney's live-action productions. Craving more stimulating material on one hand but still wedded to reassuring coziness on the other, the studio shortchanges both tendencies.

| Mar 26, 2019

This being an early Eighties Disney film, there aren't too many headless corpses lurking in the house and surrounding woods, but there are still some genuine shivers.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 26, 2019

Watcher in the Woods is a first-class thriller, far superior to the usual run of frightened-girl, creepy house movies.

| Dec 4, 2018

Even with a lackluster ending, The Watcher in the Woods is one of the more effective young adult horror pictures.

| Nov 30, 2018

The psychic alien time-warp plot is too silly for adults and not daft enough to make it a proper children's treat.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 30, 2018

Davis, in her 50th year in movies, is wonderfully wicked. But she can't compensate, especially for the contrived ending of this Disneyville Horror.

| Nov 30, 2018

The Watcher in the Woods is a haunting, unusual film, steeped in a strange magic that's only enhanced by the dense thicket of rumour and myth that surrounds it.

| Jul 30, 2018

Dated Disney horror tale has occult themes, mild scares.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 23, 2016

This tepid ghost story fails to focus on either its story or its target audience.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 17, 2007

The acting and writing are barely professional but the art direction, especially Alan Hume's stunning camerawork, gives the pic a gloss.

| Oct 17, 2007

When it became obvious that the film's mix of cutesy sentiment and vague scariness wasn't working, the company ordered whole sequences to be rewritten, re-shot or re-edited, then imposed a stupid ending that explains precisely nothing.

| Jan 26, 2006

About as scary as a bagel that's been left out on the counter overnight. Okay, maybe it's a raisin bagel. I'll give you that much.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 14, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 10, 2005

I challenge even the most indulgent fan to give a coherent translation of what passes for an explanation at the end.

Full Review | Jan 15, 2005

Creepy later-Bette Davis tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 28, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 18, 2003