Watching "The Watcher"

Shellie, Jill, or Katie may remember watching The Watcher in the Woods at a stake Young Womens retreat at Camp Joy in Pennsylvania way back when. (Since I was along, and not yet 12, Mom must have taken all of us.) I remember that the movie was on at the retreat, but I don't remember much of it, probably because I was often hiding my eyes.


We'd also see clips of the film in the montage of Disney titles that would follow the feature presentation on the Disney video tapes we'd rent. (Remember the images of the blonde blindfolded girl in the mirror?) I thought those Disney people had a lot of gall putting clips from such a spooky film in the same lineup as clips from The Happiest Millionaire and Pete's Dragon.


Then last week I saw that our public library had the DVD. Nostalgia (and curiosity) caused me to check it out. I was sure that after 20+ years I could deal with these childhood fears like a mature adult. So, I turned it on last night to have some company while I folded a mountain of laundry after the kids (and Jason) had gone to bed.


Well, let me tell you that it was still spooky! A few times I muted the sound and read the subtitles so as not to be influenced by the eerie music. Watching it alone at night didn't help much, either!


While the film is wholesome enough for the whole family, I may wait a while before I introduce my kids to it. Like wait until they're in their twenties. Then again, was I spooked by the film because I expected the film to be scary? How would those who have no previous experience with the film react? Would the kids of today be too distracted by the antiquated  special effects to even feel the smallest bit of fear? All of you will either have to watch it yourselves or show it to your (older) kids and let me know if you can keep it un-muted the whole time.