The original "Watcher in the Woods" is a Disney classic from the 80s that I wasn't allowed to watch when I was a kid because it was a horror movie, and my mom didn't like horror movies, and the fact that it was for kids didn't faze her. I ended up not watching the original movie until I was in my 20s and I bought the DVD. It was an ok movie with good atmosphere, but the ending was kind of a letdown for me. When this remake came out on Lifetime in 2017, I vowed to watch it and see if it held up to the original movie, and I finally bought it and decided to watch it today.
Mrs. Aylwood, played by Anjelica Huston, is a distraught mother whose daughter Karen disappeared over 30 years ago. Suddenly one summer, Jan Carstairs and her family move into the Aylwood manor just for the summer, Mrs. Aylwood is taken aback by Jan's resemblance to her daughter Karen. Strange and spooky occurrences start to happen, and they scare the family, and Jan is convinced that the ghostly happenings have to do with Mrs. Aylwood's daughter.
This version of the movie updates how Karen disappeared from how it happened in the original version, and I like this version better. I think it's creepier. No one can replace Bette Davis, but Anjelica Huston is amazing at the distraught mother who has been in mourning since her daughter disappeared. This version updates a few other details as well, and I like the way this version plays out. It's the little details that really make this movie shine. It also develops the relationship between Jan and Mrs. Aylwood, they have much more of a friendship in this version than they did in the original version. This version also changes who "the watcher" is and what it wants, to make it scarier than the original version. The ending gets a little silly and repetitive, and it takes these geniuses WAY too long to figure out what the Watcher wants, but this remake is still pretty good. I'd say it even rivals the original.
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