Movies Like The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

The Watcher in the Woods is a 1980 fantasy, horror, thriller film from John Hough with a MovieMagicScore of 5.9/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Darkness and Young and Innocent.

Fantasy Horror Thriller

Darkness

2002

A teenage girl moves into a remote country home with her family, only to discover that the gloomy old house has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy them.

5.6

MagicScore

Young and Innocent

1937

When a young writer is falsely accused of murdering a famous actress, he escapes custody and joins forces with the daughter of a police constable to prove his innocence.

6.6

MagicScore

Swimming Pool

2003

A British crime novelist travels to her publisher's upmarket summer house in Southern France to seek solitude in order to work on her next book. However, the unexpected arrival of the publisher's daughter induces complications and a subsequent crime.

6.5

MagicScore

Veronica

2017

In 1991 Madrid, after holding a séance at school, a teen girl minding her younger siblings at home suspects an evil force has entered their apartment.

6.2

MagicScore

The Incredible Shrinking Wknd

2019

Navarra, Spain. Alba has just turned thirty and is about to enjoy a weekend with her boyfriend and her friends in an isolated country house, but soon she will notice that this particular weekend is not at all like any other that she has lived before.

5.8

MagicScore

Atrocious

2010

Quintanilla family was found dead in their country side house. Police reported the existence of 37 hours of recorded evidence. The family traveled to their old farm house, where they investigated about the Legend of the Girl in the Garraf woods. They used to record whatever they did. Atrocious shows the last five days of this family, and the strange situations that they lived in those moments and which remain unexplained.

5.6

MagicScore

How I Live Now

2013

An American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.

6.6

MagicScore

Hellraiser

1987

A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.

6.9

MagicScore

Images

1972

While holidaying in Ireland, a pregnant children's author finds her mental state becoming increasingly unstable, resulting in paranoia, hallucinations, and visions of a doppelgänger.

6.8

MagicScore

#10

Doctor Sleep

2019

Still scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance faces the ghosts of the past when he meets Abra, a courageous teen who desperately needs his help -- and who possesses a powerful extrasensory ability called the "shine".

7.1

MagicScore

#11

Insidious

2011

A family discovers that dark spirits have invaded their home after their son inexplicably falls into an endless sleep. When they reach out to a professional for help, they learn things are a lot more personal than they thought.

7.0

MagicScore

#12

Insidious: Chapter 2

2013

The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

6.7

MagicScore

#13

Insidious: Out of the Further

2026

Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.

6.5

MagicScore

#14

Thir13en Ghosts

2001

Arthur and his two children inherit his uncle's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to twelve ghosts. When the family, accompanied by a nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine 'designed by the Devil and powered by the dead' to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by a ghost hunter and his rival, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.

6.3

MagicScore

#15

Insidious: The Last Key

2018

Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.

6.3

MagicScore

#16

Dead Birds

2005

Towards the end of the Civil War, a group of Confederate soldiers hole up on an abandoned plantation after robbing a bank, and find themselves at the mercy of supernatural forces.

5.7

MagicScore

#17

The House

2016

Two German soldiers has taken a Norwegian soldier as prisoner, during one of the cold Scandianvian winter nights during WW2. They are thankful that they find a lonely house out in the wilderness, but the houses aren't that cozy after all.

5.7

MagicScore

#18

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007

When a new professor's methods leave Hogwarts unprepared to fight the rising tide of evil, Harry teaches students how to defend against the dark arts.

7.7

MagicScore

#19

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

2014

40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, a group of children evacuated from WWII London arrive, awakening the house's darkest inhabitant.

5.3

MagicScore

#20

The Haunting of Alice D

2014

In the late 1890s the Davenport House was a famous and successful brothel, until a young prostitute named Alice killed herself there. After her death, the brothel became haunted by Alice's ghost, and was eventually abandoned. More than a century later, the old structure is renovated into a beautiful mansion. It is still rumored to inhabit the ghost of Alice. Despite this, the new owner; the rich and arrogant heir to the Davenport fortune, decides to throw a wild party for his first night in the house.

4.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Watcher in the Woods?

The top films similar to The Watcher in the Woods by MovieMagicScore are Darkness (5.6), Young and Innocent (6.6), Swimming Pool (6.5). Each shares fantasy/horror/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Watcher in the Woods worth watching?

The Watcher in the Woods holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.9/10 from 150 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Watcher in the Woods?

The Watcher in the Woods (1980) is a fantasy, horror, thriller film directed by John Hough, starring Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Watcher in the Woods?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more fantasy recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Darkness Movies like Young and Innocent Movies like Swimming Pool Movies like Veronica Movies like The Incredible Shrinking Wknd Movies like Atrocious

About movies like The Watcher in the Woods

This ranked list pairs The Watcher in the Woods (1980), a fantasy and horror and thriller film from John Hough, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Bette Davis take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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