The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
Disney’s First Stab at Horror Left Children Roaring with Laughter
The early ’80s was a time of interregnum for me and Disney Entertainment. To explain — my parents had just split up, leaving my Mom and Dad to sort out who would be in charge of making sure I did my homework and who would be in charge of making sure I had a lot of fun.
The weekends began with a trip to the local Dial-A-Video. Dad and I would arrive on Friday evenings and curate that weekend’s roster of films played at his apartment in Staten Island. Without closing my eyes I can see the VHS box designs for movies like C.H.U.D., Valley Girl, and Blame it on Rio.
In those days a lot of new releases would come with trailers for upcoming movies produced by the same studio. I don’t remember the video that opened with the trailer for Disney’s The Watcher in the Woods, but I’ll never forget the trailer itself — a blindfolded blonde girl, her arms reaching toward me, imploring, “Help me!” My best friend Kerri Parise and I agreed this looked like a winner.
Kerri and I shared an early love for horror movies — like, when we were barely out of diapers. Most of these movies were ridiculous…
