can anyone help me here?


I was asking a friend about a movie and was pointed in the direction of "Watcher in the Woods," but after glancing at the description I can tell that this is not what I was looking for. However, I also saw plenty of posts on this message board asking about other movies. Apparently, I'm not the only one with questions. So, here goes:

This movie was filmed in the 70s or 80s, I would guess. In it, a girl goes (by train, so it was set a bit earlier than filmed) to visit her grandmother in a big, old house. Once the girl is there, she begins to have dreams about her grandmother's sister--- the girl's great-aunt--- who died in a car accident many years ago as a young woman. In the dreams, the great-aunt and the man who was courting her are driving in a Model-T-type car in a horrible thunderstorm with torrential rains. They can't really see the road and end up veering over a cliff. The girl always wakes up just as they are falling. She asks her grandmother about this occurence and tries to do the best she can to gather clues, because obviously there is something of an unsolved mystery to this, and it's up to her to find out what it is. That's about all I can remember, save for a few important notes:

1. I'm pretty sure the grandmother's house is in a small New England town. I don't think this was a British movie, but I'm not 100% sure.

2. I don't think the girl was an orphan--- I believe she was visiting her grandmother for the summer. I seem to recall a scene in which she telephones her parents from the train station.

3. I could be wrong on this one, but it seems like the late great-aunt's name was either Evelyn or Gladys.

4. I watched this, on TV, I think, with my parents when I was about nine or ten (I'm now 21), so it is a family-friendly movie (not rated R).

If anyone could help me, I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks.

Murf

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nm

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no message

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hey, fonz...did you find this movie? it sounds very familiar to me, I know I saw it when I was young, and i'm really interested in knowing what it is. thanks.

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Amazingly, yes, with the assistance of another user, I did find this movie. It's called "Lantern Hill." It's a Canadian made-for-TV film from 1990. Sam Waterston, Sarah Polley, and Colleen Dewhurst are really the only notable actors involved, although everyone involved did an extraordinary job. I got a few of the details mixed up (i.e., the lady who died in the wreck was not the main character's aunt), but it was definitely the film of which I was thinking. I bought a DVD off eBay for $4.99 (including S&H) and just watched it last night. This film holds up even now that I'm an adult, and I would strongly recommend trying to get ahold of it. Copy and paste this link to go to the IMDB page for this movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099974/

Murf

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What? That's what they did with "Jane of Lantern Hill"? That has almost nothing to do with the original book, which is about a little girl who goes to spend a summer with her father, whom she has never met, and ends up getting he parents back together.

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Actually that happens too. The movie just threw some supernatural stuff in there as well.

Murf

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Perhaps i'm thinking of the same movie.

When i was a young kid, like 7 or so, I remember watching a rental VHS tape of a disney movie that we owned somehow. I forget what the film was, perhaps the rescuers. I remember there being a series of previews before (or perhaps after) the feature presentation.

Some of those previews were definitly: The Love Bug, Tron, Polliana, Pete's Dragon, escape to witch mountain.. but here's teh catcher...

I remember one of those previews being so scary for a kid to watch. I vaguely remember a blindfolded woman, several mirrors.. perhaps a car crash and some yelling.

To this day i'm baffled that disney released a movie this scary.. or perhaps it really wasn't and i've just dreamed up the whole event. What is this film?

Thank you

Nihilo Sanctum Estne?

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It's funny you mention that. My brother and I got with a bunch of friends this weekend to watch it. In our minds it was such a scary movie, but when we watched it, it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought. I'm still suprised that it's in the kids section at the movie rental place though. I still didn't want my 3 year old to watch it.

*Also, I'm glad they didn't use the alternate ending for the final show...sorta lame.

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It wasn't "Lantern Hill," which involved no blindfold. Also, "Lantern Hill" wasn't really a Disney film; it was a Canadian film that was presumably distributed in the U.S. by Disney. However, your description sounds vaguely like what I've heard of a film called "Don't Go To Sleep." You might want to check that out.

Murf

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