Powerful

Absolutely Fantastic

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

When a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.I wasn't really aware of this film until Rue Morgue magazine did a focus on it. And wow, it really deserves a wider audience. John Hough is a great director; his "Hell House" is one of my all-time favorites. Here, working more in a family-friendly way, he still manages to terrify.Although the older sister is a terrible actress, at least when she is trying to be emotional, the movie as a whole stands up as creepy and a decent mystery. You can never go wrong with those films where kids know more about what is going on than their parents do.

a music box as axis of a horror who reminds old Gothic stories. Bettle Davis in impeccable role. a family in a strange place, in middle of traces of past. a film who impress for atmosphere and for the sparkles of old fashion instruments to define tension and fear and slices of a past incident who explains a strange form of survive. not extraordinary but useful for discover another side of Disney and admire its mark in a different form. short, a decent horror. useful for teenager, who are, maybe, its basic target but, in same measure , interesting for adults for remind the force of magic of memories preserved by ordinary objects. a film about strange events and obscure explanations. and that could be enough. for entertainment. for the flavor of 1980 cinema. for precise art to do a not bad story.

The woods to me can be one of the creepiest places to be because you never really know what's hidden out there.This film is another underrated and forgotten gem. I'll admit discovering that Disney made a horror film was unreal to me, I felt this was great because it really showed that Disney was starting to take chances they were starting to take the next step. It's a shame Disney didn't make more horror films, I really would of liked to of seen them.The film seems like a lost anthology tale for the TV show "Are you Afraid of the Dark" because like with that show this is a horror film for the family film genre which I think is really cool since we really don't have that many. It is a very tricky feet trying to mix both the horror and family genre, but this film I feel is one done right because it's able to successful balance out both without watering itself down.I really like the production value and even cinematography of the film which I think have some memorable visuals; I really liked how the film used the forest locale, the use of light and shadow which made the woods a character in itself as it emits a sense of mystery and menace. I even like the ruined chapel location which almost looks like part of a level in the video game "Castlevania" which looked spooky from it's Gothic feel and structure and amount of darkness that emitted almost a creepy feeling. Or even the viewpoint of the Watcher which adds to the creep factor because you not sure what this thing or entity is about to do, even thought it's not doing anything now you know it will soon.Music is solid, though not memorable which to me is one of the weak points of the film, I wish this film had a more memorable score but still it was good enough to give the film the right moodiness it has.I really like the story, it's not really a ghost story there really isn't a ghost per say it's more of a psychic mystery thriller, which I think is cool since we don't get nearly enough of those in the horror genre. The suspense is solid, yeah it's a slow burn but I don't mind because as the film gets further things start to escalate. You really have a creepy and disorienting feeling throughout the film because your not entirely sure what's going to happen next or even what all this is leading up to. The mystery I think is very good, it has a great amount of intrigue, there are clues but they're not obvious, we can see them but we can't entirely decipher their meaning or know how they really go together; and I like that feeling it really makes it feel like a real mystery, causing us to think and figure things out. Characters I think are pretty solid from the adult characters mainly Mrs. Aylwood played by Bette Davis one of her last roles. She is pretty much that mysterious wise women on the side of road character but I really like how you actually kind feel for her, as we see throughout the years she has been plagued by this mystery of not knowing what happened to her daughter which is a terrible feeling and in a way just motives you to want the protagonists to solve the mystery and win.And I like both the young female protagonists. Kyle Richards is solid as Elle Curtis and on a side note this actress played Linsey in John Carpenter's "Halloween" which is cool since that's one of my favorite horror films and that's two horror films in a row for the actress which isn't bad. Anyway, I like that she's not some stereotypical annoying little sister but she a sweet girl, she has a bit of charisma, loves dogs, despite young she's not totally naive she does exercise some intelligence.Lynn Holy Johnson I also thought was solid/decent as Jan Curtis, her character is solid, she takes charge, cares for her little sister; there's a good back and forth between both of them, and I like that she's very open doesn't dismiss what's happening as things shes just seeing. Both the sisters are psychics but don't entirely know it or have no idea how to control it, each of them have the ability but it works different. For Elle it's mainly in hearing, she is able to hear voices from a distance or pick up sounds no others can hear, much like with a dog that can hear certain frequencies. Jan it's sight, where she can see images for a certain amount of time and occur at different times.This makes both sympathetic because their in the same boat as us, their struggling to figure out what in the hell is going on, why this is all happening to them. There are some memorable images like one scene which was creepy was Jan putting up a mirror and then when she looks at it again she doesn't see her reflection. But for me the best scene was in the mirror maze when we see Jan suddenly see multiple images of a girl, blind folded and from her lip movements is constantly saying help me.What also makes this films stand out are two of it's endings. I personally really liked the original ending they choice for the film it felt right and well balanced, though I even liked the alternate ending which I thought good let alone even stranger, I won't say what it is you just have to see both for yourself.Like any sight in the woods is worth a watch.Rating: 3 stars

I watched this movie because it had Bette Davis in it. Her part is very small. As for the movie overall, the acting is bad and the script is worse. This was certainly a low point for Disney. I rented this movie from Netflix and the first disc was damaged and would not play. I should have let it go at that, but I ordered another disc. I would not waste your time watching this movie. Oh, I suppose if I were ten again and watching it when it came out in 1980 maybe I would have liked it, but I seriously doubt it. They are few times when I jumped at some cheap bangs and such, but that was closest that I came to actually being scared. The cover of the box was well down though! LOL