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Armand Mastroianni's 1980 "He Knows You're Alone" might have borrowed a number of shots from John Carpenter's 1978 film "Halloween." It might have drawn from that movie's score, and it might have conceived of its unstoppable villain in a similar way. But it doesn't deserve to be left in the margins of the '80s slasher movie boom, especially given that it isn't a lesser entry in the genre.

Despite the movie being a decent-sized hit at the time of its release, grossing nearly $5 million per BoxOfficeMojo, it has largely been forgotten, outside of an early Tom Hanks appearance as a jogger. Compared to the best-known entries in the slasher subgenre of horror, there wasn't any kind of easy iconography to get absorbed into mainstream pop culture. Its relatively low budget means that there's fairly limited coverage and occasional bits of technical cost-cutting. But there's a strong sense of dread throughout,...

1966: Dark Shadows' Matthew took Victoria hostage.

1985: Oltl's Tina tried to sell Viki's story to a tabloid.

1988: Brenda Epperson debuted as Ashley on Y&R.

1996: Hayden Panettiere debuted as Lizzie on Guiding Light."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Ellie Fitzgibbons reluctantly agreed to see Willy Bryan (Edward Holmes).

1966: On Dark Shadows, Matthew Morgan (Thayer David) took Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) hostage at the Old House, and hid her in a secret room behind the drawing room bookcase.

1972:...

Following the horror juggernaut that was Halloween (1978), major studios were very interested to hop in bed with stalk and slay splatterfests. When the Paramount distributed Friday the 13th (1980) looked to be muy lucrative, the big boys jumped hard on the mattress to see how much coin they could dislodge. MGM was no different, and made their claim with He Knows You’re Alone (1980), a film that ultimately survived the dog pile with winning characterizations over slavish Carpenter imitations.

Filmed in December of ’79 on Staten Island and released at the end of summer, He Knows You’re Alone made nearly $ 5 million for MGM against a meager $ 250,000 budget. A tidy profit to be sure, but it was recognized by most critics (and horror fans alike) as a messy pastiche of everything that worked about Halloween but operating with a lot less wattage. I think that’s only partially true – He Knows actually manages to create memorable characters,...

Peter Hansen (ex-Lee, Port Charles/General Hospital) - 89

Harris Yulin (ex-Michael, As The World Turn) - 73

Leon Russom (ex-Willis, Another World; ex-Jack, All My Children; ex-Peter, Guiding Light) - 69

Lewis Arlt (ex-David, Search For Tomorrow; ex-David/Ken, Another World; ex-Richard, Ryan's Hope) - 60

Pamela Blair (ex-Elizabeth, Ryan's Hope; ex-Rita Mae, Loving; ex-Ronda, All My Children) - 61

Morgan Brittany (ex-Katherine, Dallas) - 59

Joseph Barbara (ex-Joe, Another World; ex-Paolo, All My Children) - 43...

He Knows You’Re Alone is an unorthodox low budget slasher released back in 1980. Way back before slashers were a regular genre staple. The story pits serial killer versus soon to be brides, in what really equates to an extremely dark case of jealousy and rage. Ray Carlton (Tom Rolfing) is a lover scorned turned psychopathic murderer, and since his own relationship crumbled years ago, he’s taken a liking to disposing of brides. After all - if he can’t be happy - no one can!, isn’t that how it goes?

For young Amy Jensen (Caitlin O‘Heaney), wedding bells are on the horizon. She and Phil (James Carroll) are scheduled to be married in a matter of weeks, and by some strange twist of fate…or telekinetic abilities, Ray knows it. Given Ray’s unexplained, but acute awareness of the situation he sets out to bring premature...