The Watcher In The Woods (1980)

A family consisting of a husband (David McCallum), wife (Carroll Baker) and two daughters (Lynn Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards) move into a secluded mansion near a vast forest. Something terrible happened almost thirty years ago that no one wants to talk about, the disappearance of a young girl (Katharine Levy) whose mother (Bette Davis) is the owner of the mansion the family has moved into. The oldest girl (Johnson) resembles the old woman's daughter and will prove key to solving the mystery of what happened 30 years ago. Based on the novel by Florence Engel Randall, the film starts out promisingly as a good old fashioned ghost story or mystery and it almost holds your interest for its first hour. But the film makers couldn't come up with a satisfactory ending and what they've provided is silly. Two alternate endings were shot and they are no more satisfactory, one with a more horror feel (an alien looking creature) and the other one with a more elaborate sci-fi ending. The original cut was around one hour and 45 minutes but the surviving print clocks in at a much shorter one hour and 23 minutes. Johnson (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY) is a pretty but vapid actress and not good enough to carry the lead. The others don't have much to do (Baker is eliminated in the current ending though featured prominently in the two alternates). Directed by John Hough (LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE) who intended a much darker film but was fought all the way by the studio (this is a Disney film) who didn't want to go there. With Ian Bannen, Georgina Hale and Dominic Guard (THE GO BETWEEN).