This is one of my favorite episodes because I get to talk to my cousin Isabel Waryan about a movie that we saw as kids that has now become a cozy horror cult classic in both of our households, The Watcher in the Woods (1980). With scare techniques also used in The Exorcist, The Shining and The Evil Dead, can you believe that this is a Disney movie? We express our appreciation for actually-scary kids horror, Betty Davis, and shag haircuts. This is very much a childhood lore episode so if we need something comforting, put this on. And if you’ve never seen this movie, what are you waiting for? It’s perfect for long dark nights where you need something eerie and not-terrifying.
00:00-11:30- Intro / How Isabel Got Into Horror / Discussion of Horror for Kids / How We Saw The Watcher in the Woods
11:30-20:00- Brief Synopsis / Differences Between Movie and Book / Scary Moments
20:00- Acting / Music / Characters
42:00- The Watcher / Alternative Endings / Themes of Mothers and Isolation
57:00-1:03:00- Double Feature Ideas / Outro
Please note: timestamps are estimates.
We forgot to mention that there’s also a remake of this movie from 2017 starring Anjelica Huston made for the Lifetime Channel. To me, it doesn’t have the same type of movie magic, but it exists.
References:
Evolution of Horror Podcast (our mutual fave!)
The Watcher in the Woods by Florence Engel Randall
The Watcher in the Woods is Smart Gateway Horror- Certified Forgotten article written by your’s truly (support their podcast too!)
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The music used in this episode is from the trailer and clips from The Watcher in the Woods (1980) used for educational purposes.
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