"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.
