8 Horror Movies So Awful They Were Pulled From The Cinema

Younger Disney viewers may not be familiar with The Watcher In The Woods – but then, neither might older viewers either.

Bette Davis led the cast for the House of Mouse's first proper foray into horror filmmaking, with development beginning in the late '70s as horror was gradually clawing an ever-larger share of the mainstream. In the film, the modern, all-American Curtis family move into a rural manor in England and strange supernatural presences begin to make themselves felt. The ghost of the house's original owner's daughter torments the Curtis's daughter Jan (Lynn-Holly Johnson), and seances, possessions and PG derring-do on a $9 million budget follow.

Unfortunately, Disney compromised The Watcher In The Woods before it was even across the editor's table, restricting the script and filming so as to not make the film too scary, remaining true to its family-friendly brand. The result is a film that's tonally uneven, narratively obscure and has a muddled, mildly catastrophic ending.

The overwhelmingly negative response from critics and audiences caused Disney to pull the film from release after ten days. A variety of changes were made thereafter, including the filming of an entirely new ending, but, even on a second release, The Watcher In The Woods failed to make its production budget back.