Nonureva Really Surprised!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

rodrig58 It's not bad at all but it has some flaws. What killer leaves his muddy shoes in the closet to be found there by a lady who's living in the same building? Only a stupid killer. What killer throw a shirt dirty with blood in the garbage bin from the garage at the base of the block where he lives? The same stupid killer. But they're all stupid, the killers, since they commit crimes. I wanted to watch this because of Jennifer Jason Leigh. But she has a small role of a deaf-mute almost blind. She's very young, one of her first roles. OK, let's accept that she has a very strong shock, being almost raped by the killer-psychopath and that helps returning her sight and speech. The interesting idea of the movie is the killer watched by the neighbor, tortured by phone, as he watched and tortured his victims. Lauren Tewes looks like Agnetha Fältskog, the blonde of ABBA, and John DiSanti, the killer, looks like Rod Steiger. They are both very good, specially DiSanti.

Scott LeBrun "Eyes of a Stranger" is a decent, overlooked slasher that takes place in sunny Miami. A depraved sex murderer is hard at work eliminating the female population, and a hard- driving TV news anchor, Jane Harris (Lauren Tewes of 'The Love Boat' fame) is determined to do something about it, especially when she comes to believe that the killer is actually one of her own neighbours, the bespectacled, corpulent Stanley Herbert (John DiSanti). He's been phoning his victims as a prelude to his crimes, but he soon has the tables turned on him as *she* harasses him with calls. But Stanley soon has another victim in mind, Janes' own sister Tracy (Jennifer Jason Leigh, making her film debut), who's deaf, dumb, and blind because she's *already* had a traumatic past encounter with a predator. Admittedly, this *is* trashy stuff, but should prove to be adequate entertainment for slasher aficionados. Not that it stands out in the genre in terms of style or content, because it doesn't, but it's still reasonably well done. Director Ken Wiederhorn establishes a respectably creepy atmosphere and gets some great use out of the various locations. In one twist, Stanley dumps a victim at the beach, where he promptly gets his car stuck, and when an annoyed lovebird who happens to be nearby shows up to give the car a push, it provides Stanley with another handy two victims. An early scene is also amusing for containing a "severed head in the fishtank" gag, just as "He Knows You're Alone", another slasher from the same period, did. Late in the movie, there's one very sinister sequence when Stanley is in the Harris apartment and toys with Tracy by moving objects in and out of her reach. Tom Savini supplies the makeup effects, which are good but for the most part not among his best work (the final blood soaked sequence is pretty nice, though). For the voyeurs, there are some choice breast shots. One very effective element is the excellent music score by the under-rated composer Richard Einhorn; it's quite scary. The acting is fine from the principals: Tewes is convincing as the impassioned older sister, Leigh is appealing as the younger one, DiSanti is incredibly effective as the murdering cretin, and Peter DuPre does a decent job as Janes' attorney boyfriend. Look for 'Flipper' star Luke Halpin in a bit as a tape editor, and watch out for scenes from Wiederhorns' spooky low budget flick "Shock Waves" (which had co-starred Halpin) playing on TV. This was one of only three productions for the short lived company Georgetown, whose other credits were the first two "Friday the 13th" pictures. Seven out of 10.

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) I remember watching, "Wait Until Dark", and it dealt with creepy people. Well, in "Eyes of a Stranger", it takes creepy to a whole new level. In Miami, Florida, there's a creepy caller roaming around. Not only he's making obscene calls he's raping and killing as well. A bar worker gets sexually assaulted and by this behemoth, after he cuts off his head with a cleaver. Following up on the case is a headstrong reporter (Lauren Tewes, "The Love Boat") who is tracking down this maniac while she does her best to protect her sister(Jennifer Jason Leigh) who was blinded and deafened from a vicious attack years earlier. Jane has suspicion on a neighbor who was changing his shirt in a hurry. Her hunches were right, and she doesn't mess around. For her sister, her past injuries turned out to be temporary, when the serial killer came after her. Lauren Tewes did a great job as Julie, the cruise director, on "The Love Boat". In this movie, she didn't play around. Jennifer Jason Leigh did very well, in her debut as the blinded sister Tracy. A very good movie, must see! 4 out of 5 stars

Michael_Elliott Eyes of a Stranger (1981) ** (out of 4) A rather lame "slasher" has Lauren Tewes playing a TV reporter who begins to think that the serial killer stalking women is her neighbor (John DiSanti). This is a very strange movie as it never seems to know what it's trying to be. On one hand it really plays and feels like a made for TV flick but then again there are some rather sleazy murders, which includes some graphic violence and some nudity. Tom Savini was behind the special effects but I've read that this film started out as a straight psychological thriller and then Savini was called in after the success of Friday the 13th. I'd be curious if Savini came in after the original film was completed because there's really no rhyme or reason behind the special effects. Some of the murder sequences are rather tame while others happen off screen. If you make a slasher then the murders don't happen off screen. Then there are other murders, which you can clearly tell Savini is behind them but then again these sequences seem out of place as if they were filmed later and then edited back into the movie. No matter how they were really done or when, they do look good. Overall I found the film too slow and boring to really be that good and some of the blame has to go towards the director even though the first murder sequence manages to build some tension. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the blind/deaf/mute sister and does a pretty good job in her first film. I wasn't too thrilled with Tewes who I felt was bland in the lead. DiSanti was an interesting choice for the killer but he doesn't have much to work with. The film could be called a remake of Rear Window and even a rip of various DePalma movies, which this seems to try and copy. Either way the movie never really takes off.