Hospital del terror

When one thinks of 80's slasher flicks, one doesn't usually think of middle aged women like Lee Grant running around and screaming while a crazed madman chases her with a knife, but that's what Visiting Hours amounts to. Because of the age switch, it manages to keep the audience on its toes a bit and it's nice to see a slasher film with a more mature cast and a little character development here and there.

Even Linda Purl (who's easily the youngest one in the cast) plays a single mother struggling to make ends meet as a nurse. There's a level of maturity to everyone in the cast. These aren't people who talk about homework, prom, and boyfriends. They've got their own dreams and goals and that makes it far more terrifying when they are stalked and attacked by said madman.

The madman in question here is Michael Ironside (and no, that's not a spoiler) who lurks, sneers, and sweats with delirious abandon. It's something to see. Even William Shatner gets in on the action, but he only has a few scenes and doesn't really add much to the proceedings.

Visiting Hours might not be full of nubile coeds or buckets of gore, but it knows how to build suspense and there are a number of hair raising shocks and jump-out-of-your-seat moments.

VISITING HOURS is a largely laughed-at serial killer flick starring Michael Ironside. I suppose many of the laughs generate from William Shatner being in the film, playing a concerned boyfriend. I've never understood the fixation with Shatner as a comedy figure. Shatner is OK in his role, playing it completely straight and not completely terribly. It seems in getting fixated on the (in my view, non-existent) laughs from Shatner, viewers seem to have a blind spot to a lot of good things that VISITING HOURS achieves.

Ironside is strong as the killer (Colt Hawker), whose desire to kill comes from a terrible childhood and an abusive father. He identifies with his father, and loathes women because his mother threw boiling water over his Pa's face. Seems a bit of a stretch, but it wouldn't be the first time sometimes chosen the abuser over the person they abuse.

Colt becomes a misogynist, and turns his attention onto Deborah Ballin, who speaks out against violence towards women. She's a little militant about it and annoys a few people, so it's hard for the cops to figure out that Colt is the one hunting her down.

Some of the kill scenes are genuinely affecting. Colt likes to takes pictures of his victims as they're dying, and one - where he pulls a breathing tube from an elderly lady - is harrowing. Don't forget that Ironside was great in STARSHIP TROPPERS and brilliant in TOTAL RECALL as the supremely slimy Richter, and he excels in a similar role here. It's pretty baffling why Ironside ended up in TV series/movie hell given his excellence in playing the bad guy. Just the luck of the draw.

But the main plus of VISITING HOURS is that it's incredibly well shot. It's wildly voyeuristic, with lots of uncomfortable close-ups and point-of-view shots... and lots of lingering on people's suffering. The director - Jean-Claude Lord - has made nothing else of note. Even his name rhymes in a comedic way. Lord started out in France, then ended up doing US TV movies. But VISITING HOURS has a slight Hitchcock vibe and the level of voyeurism that makes you feel a little grubby just watching the damn movie.

I'm not saying VISITING HOURS is a classic. It's not up there with HENRY, and it's not up there with the next rung of excellent serial killer movies... say something like ANGST or HIGHWAYMEN. The pacing is a little laboured, and there are passages of ropey dialogue. But VISITING HOURS is a very good movie. It certainly is stupidly underrated, and is definitely worth checking out for a well-directed slice of slimy horror.

Visiting Hours is the film I saw, more than once in movie theater. Having opportunity to get it on DVD I didn't know what to expect. Very few films from my childhood "at the movies" stood the test of time, but the ones that made an impact then, are forever implanted in my film taste. Same thing happened with this film. It is untypical - typical horror film, that looks like traditional 80's slashers but different in all the key points. I never looked at any of Michael Ironside's roles without seeing the deranged psychopath he portrayed in this one.

It's qualities for me, are shortcomings for the majority of horror picture fans. It doesn't have new body spraying buckets of blood every two and a half seconds. It doesn't have freaks with masks and buzzin' chain saws, severed heads and body parts flying around. It has a story of deeply disturbed character, and his rampage through the world around him that he hates deeply and profoundly. Not just the women. He hates them all, and with passion. It has character actors, not bunch of nobodies that are only there to supply bodies for the count. They are not in their best dramatic roles, and the movie could have been better, but it's not half bad either, and it surely doesn't deserve such low rating.

This movie has something in it that's still there all these years. It aged well and you can't say that for many of them. It's different in it's usualness and that is the catch. Look for it, even if you don't like horrors. It won't give you nightmares, it will make an impression.

This is yet another slasher that despite the negative reviews from rotten tomatoes more than doubled it's money at the box office. The story was good. the acting was decent. The kills were good and the killer was OK. Just another fun popcorn movie for a one time watch was good enough for me.

"Visiting Hours" is a forgotten slasher film which stars Michael Ironside as a murderer stalking TV journalist Lee Grant.The film is pretty slow,but there is enough violence to satisfy fans of horror cinema.Ironside is pretty believable as a misogynistic serial killer,the rest of the cast is also impressive.The film is pretty scary and suspenseful,so fans of slasher movies won't be disappointed.It was made the same year as similar "Halloween 2".Overall,I enjoyed this one and you should too,especially if you like slasher movies.My rating:8 out of 10.