Les yeux de l'étranger

EYES OF A STRANGER is far better than one might expect. LOVE BOAT's Lauren Tewes is quite good as Jane Harris, the TV anchor turned Nancy Drew sleuth. Jennifer Jason Leigh is very convincing as Harris' blind, traumatized sister, Tracy. They have no idea that they're living in the apartment building right next to that of a repugnant serial-rapist / murderer. The very killer that Jane has been reporting on every night!

As fate would have it, Jane stumbles upon evidence that could point to the man's identity. We're shown early on that she's right, and said maniac gets wise to her snooping. He's a pretty intimidating person, played well by John DiSanti.

This movie is a solid thriller with a surprisingly high gore quotient provided by maestro Tom Savini. The "fish tank" scene is most memorable. The rest is mostly by the numbers, with the real exception being the effort put in by Ms.' Tewes and Jason Leigh...

**SPOILERS** Since Jane's, Lauren Tewes, younger sister Tracy, Jennifer Jason-Leigh,was abducted and traumatized when she was a little girl she lost her ability to see speak or hear. This made Jane very protective of Tracy to the point where it interfered with her personal and professional life, Jane is a Miami TV news reporter.

There's this serial murder on the loose in Miami Beach and what terrified Jane is not herself becoming a victim of the killer but her defenseless kid sister Tracy ending up dead because of him. We get to see the killer in action early in the movie when he stalks, on foot and by phone, nightclub dancer Debbie,Gwen Lewis. After getting himself into her apartment the killer decapitates Debbie's boyfriend Jeff, Thimothy Hawkins, and then strangles Debbie with his belt. Within minutes we, the audience, as well as Jane get to see the killer and realize who he his: Stanley Hurbert, John DiSanti, Debbie's and Tracy's next door neighbor.

since we already know who the killer is there's no surprise to his identity but there is a a lot of terror and suspense in the fact that Jane in trying to get the proof that Herbert is the serial killer puts herself, as well as young Tracy, in his sights as his next two victims.

Getting enough evidence on Hubert by breaking into his apartment and getting one of his shoes that from the scene of a triple-murder that he committed. Debbie later gives it to her boyfriend David, Peter DePre, to get checked out by the police lab was enough to get Herbert on Jane tail. When she starts to make annoying and threatening telephone calls Herbert finally realized who she was,by later seeing and hearing Jane on her TV news show, that made him home in on her and her sister like a heat-seeking missile.

Even though both Lauren Tewes and young 19 year-old Jennifer Jason-Leigh were very good, as two of psycho-killer Herbert intended victims, in the movie it was John DiSanti as Stanley Herbert who stole the show as the creepy and at the same time, if you didn't realize who he really was, unsuspecting killer. It wasn't until the last ten or so minutes of the movie when Herbert went wild trying to murder Tracy that he really showed how crazy and murderous he was. Better then you would expect from a B-murder TV-type film even though it wasn't a made for TV the movie,"Eyes of a Stranger" delivers and delivers big.

As a horror-film fan who likes certain types of chillers, I would say this bit of work is solid in atmosphere and fairly gripping at times.The musical score is out of this world, and John DiSanti was brilliant.The directing by Mr.Weiderhorn was very creative and was at the near peak of perfection in capturing the mood and atmosphere of the stalk scenes.I found the conclusion somewhat anti-climatic, but most all else was captivating.This film arrived on the scene right at the high water-mark for slasher-chiller flicks,and it is easily lost in the clutter of all the other famous and even not-so famous films of this genre.Once again the music was delightfully scary.

"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.

Surprisingly decent entry in the slasher-flick genre has attractive, spunky Lauren Tewes (here on loan from TV's "The Love Boat", and doing excellent work besides) playing crack reporter hunting down a serial killer of women. Jennifer Jason Leigh, with her thick crop of hair and pale skin, is luminous in her film-debut as Tewes' deaf-mute-and-blind sister (her sequence in the kitchen with the killer is incredibly well-staged). The movie's first priority is to be a bloodfest, and some of the violence is predictably disgusting; however, of its type, "Eyes" isn't half bad! I found the grainy production quite eerie, John DiSanti gives a brave performance as the hefty psycho, and, as noted, Tewes is terrific. Who knew?? ** from ****