Girl from the Legend

The Watcher in the Woods is a 1980 supernatural horror film directed by John Hough and starring Bette Davis, Carroll Baker, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, and David McCallum. Based on the 1976 novel by Florence Engel Randall, the film tells the story of an American teenage girl and her younger sister who become entangled in a decades-long missing person case involving a girl who disappeared in the woods surrounding their new home in the English countryside. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, The Watcher in the Woods was one of several live-action films produced by Walt Disney Productions in the 1980s, when the studio was targeting young adult audiences, and was among their earliest films to receive PG-rating in the United States. Principal photography took place at Pinewood Studios and the surrounding areas in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1979. The Watcher in the Woods had its world premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on April 17, 1980, but was pulled from release after ten days, and future screenings were canceled by the studio because of an overwhelming negative response from critics and audiences. Several changes were made thereafter, including the excision of a pre-credits sequence, as well the filming of an entirely new ending, which was directed by Vincent McEveety without Hough's involvement. Disney re-released the revised cut of the film on October 9, 1981, and it grossed $5 million. Though critical response to the film was varied and included numerous unfavorable reviews, the film went on to gain a cult following in the years following its release. Another adaptation of the novel was released for television in 2017 starring Anjelica Huston.