MovieChat Forums > The Watcher in the Woods (1981) Discussion > I did not find it that good or that scar...

I did not find it that good or that scary.(spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by winonaforever2
3 replies | jump to latest

I wasn't expecting much of this movie. I think I saw it as a kid and back then probably it scared me. I can understand how sometimes you watch a film of your childhood and you still like it, maybe because it brings you memories or because you have a special feeling for it. I saw this one a few days ago, and I never thought it was gonna be like that. All those posters saying "this is the scariest movie ever" or "It scared the *beep* out of me" or something like that. I'm sorry but I don't see that. It had some suspense, but it wasn't challenging enough. I found it quite predictable and very Disneyy. If you want to see a good horror film watch The shining, Psycho,the exorcist The thing, etc. It had its moments of suspense, like when the character of Bette Davis saves the girl from the water.But apart from that typical gimmicks you see in this sort of genre, possesed girl that spells backwards, mirrors that break from the sound of the wind, the weather that stops you from leaving the haunted house. And the ending doesn't really have an answer. We know Karen was taken back from there, but we never know what or who the watcher is, how does it work. We're never told what the rite of initiation was or why they did it for. I would have loved to know how the reverend and the other two children came in contact with the watcher first or what he or them wanted from each other. We only see that they hold each other arms in a circle and then ta-da, magic. I'm not a troll and I don't want to ditch this movie, I just found it not good enough and it surprised me the huge following it has on this website.

[–] NoelCT 17 years ago

I agree with everything you say.

[–] ShizaMinelli 15 years ago

Well the thing with nostalgic types of films is that a huge part of that nostalgic feeling comes from the memories of it's initial effect on you. People remember this movie scaring them as children, myself included, and they in turn. When you're watching it as an adult for the first time you don't have that nostalgic feeling and it's simply not the same. That's why so many movie boards for movies with a "cult following" (that generally weren't really that good to begin with most of the time if we're REALLY being honest here...) will have one or 2 threads saying they didn't think it was so good and other people's comments made them think it would be scarier/funnier/sadder, etc. A perfect example is the movie It. A whole generation of kids was scared crapless by that movie and grew up saying it was the most terrifying thing they ever saw and made them scared of clowns...then they never watch it again (b/c they're too scared to) and it gains this following as so scary. It scared me poopless tbh, but then I rewatched it as an older kid and it really was not nearly as bad as I thought I remembered, but had some good acting and was a hell of a story. But now with more and more nostalgic but slightly obscure movies being released somehow andavailable to be watched, people are rediscovering older movies. Some people still get scared, but others sometimes realize it wasn't as great a movie as they remembered it being, and the ones who see it anew without the nostalgia factor will more than likely not like it much at all unfortunately.

As far as the ending...I don't think even hardcore WITW fans could explain everything lol...the only real answer is a rushed release and too many cooks in the soup.

If I could just get a decent piece of bacon I could turn this douche of a day around

[–] ashisthegal 15 years ago

i'm pretty sure anyone who loves this movie probably did grow up with it or something, which would explain it, because this movie was pretty bad, in all respects. at best, it's a cheesy horror film that's fun to watch with a friend so you can laugh at it, but in turn, it's not even interesting enough to keep your interest.

i actually rented this film because i'm a huge Bette Davis fan, and i was rather annoyed that the opening credits say "Starring Bette Davis" - what a laugh! she barely had any air time.