By Stephen Pytak 

     What's this doing here?
     Truth is I have a real interest in horror films from 
the 80's and when Anchor Bay released this strange 
Disney film on DVD, I couldn't resist.
     I'm actually glad I picked it up.
     Directed by Hammer horror veteran John Hough, 
"Watcher" is a suspense film with a few jolts and 
disturbing images. 
     The ones that will pick your brain the most will 
no doubt be the three endings presented on the disc. 
Makes you wonder what the filmmakers were 
thinking. All three are kind of flawed in one way or 
another.
     The story, based on the book by Florence Engel 
Randall, focuses on an American family who rents a 
house in Europe on the edge of the woods. The 
oldest of two sisters, Jan (played by the very lovely 
Lynn-Holly Johnson), starts having strange visions. 
In particular, she sees what appears to be a ghost 
of a young girl wearing a blindfold.
     Spooky?
     Kinda.
     The film really kicks in when Jan is bombarded 
with images at every turn. The horse riding sequence 
and the scene in the carnival funhouse are really 
good. Sometimes it feels like Tobe Hooper was  
second unit director.
     All goes well until the ending. Obviously, the 
filmmakers thought so too and that's probably why 
there are three endings.
     The one attached to the feature presentation is 
the most disturbing. There's some possession stuff 
going on here and it reminded me a little of the 
ending of "The Boogeyman (1981)."
     In the other two endings, we get to glimpse 
"The Watcher," an alien from another world. These 
endings are neat. The creature looks like something 
out of Lovecraft. It reminded me of "Patrick" from 
"Species II."
     I'm glad Anchor Bay goes the distance and puts 
these cut scenes on their discs because they're great 
to see and discuss.
     I think the problem with the endings involving 
"The Watcher" creature isn't how it look. It's a 
problem with timing. 
     According to the Anchor Bay booklet inside the 
disc, this film was originally 1 hour and 48 minutes 
long. For some reasons, 20 minutes was edited out 
of the finished film. The feature presentation on the 
disc is about 83 minutes long.
     The problem is the film starts off feeling like a 
ghost story, then it starts to feel like more of a 
cult/supernatural story and then, out of fucking 
nowhere, the film goes straight to outer space.
     What I'm trying to say is the other world/alien 
subplot should have hinted at a little bit earlier to 
help with the flow and the punchline.
     The disc also contains a commercial or two 
on it that have to be seen to be believed, the only 
Disney promotions which warn parents to 
prescreen the film before letting their children see 
it.
     Great stuff.