Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Anjelica Huston are joining forces to make some magic at Lifetime. Melissa Joan Hart will direct the Oscar winner in “Watcher in the Woods,” an upcoming original movie for the network. Variety reports that Huston will topline the re-imagining of the 1980 cult classic horror film.
Huston plays “Mrs. Alywood, the distraught mother whose daughter vanished in the English countryside over 20 years ago. When Jan Carstairs (Tallulah Evans) and her family move into the idyllic Alywood manor for the summer, the family is warned against entering the surrounding woods, but Jan and her little sister Ellie (Dixie Egerickx) hear voices coming from the forest,” Variety summarizes. “As Jan unravels the dark past hidden by the townspeople, she delves further into the mystery and deeper into danger, but now it might be too late to escape.”
In addition to her directing duties, Hart is executive producing “Watcher in the Woods” along with Paula Hart, her mother. The “God’s Not Dead 2” actress has previously helmed episodes of “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” in which she starred from 1996–2003, her comedy series “Melissa & Joey,” and “Santa Con,” a 2014 Lifetime movie about a con man who is forced to accept a job as a department store Santa.
Huston won an Academy Award in 1986 for “Prizzi’s Honor.” “Transparent” and “Smash” are among her recent credits.
A premiere date for “Watcher in the Woods” hasn’t been announced yet. Lifetime did, however, reveal when to expect Kyra Sedgwick’s directorial debut, “Story of a Girl.” The coming-of-age story based on Sara Zarr’s YA novel will air on the network July 23.
