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Jon Peters' first production as he transformed himself (with girlfriend Barbra Streisand's help) from hairdresser to movie producer, the movie is a gem of Seventies style at it's finest. The clothes, the hair, makeup, music, attitude, interiors and locations ride the crest of the high-style wave that flooded the world through the Eighties. Combining the improbable worlds of violence and fashion, with a story that centers on a famous photographer (Dunaway) and her ability to *see* her friends and colleagues being stalked and murdered, *Eyes* has moments of serious suspense, but that's hardly the reason to see this movie. Utilizing the actual photography of fashion god Helmut Newton, the film maker has exquisitely captured the 1978 New York fashion and disco scene in a way that none of the recent looks at the Seventies has been able to, but then, again, this movie was *made* in 1978, not 27 years later. The scenes of photo shoots are particularly fun to watch, with one scene portraying a burning car crash in Columbus Circle in which the models, clad in garter belts and fur coats cat-fight before the camera. The ingenuous use of *real* models add the precise amount of vacuity necessary to make the surreal shot work. Another photo shoot involves a model dead from a gunshot to his heart lying in a pool surrounded by exotically dressed disco-dancing models and a throbbing disco beat. The plot is secondary to style in this movie, and style is the only reason this movie should be remembered. Favorite moment: Darlanne Fluegel as the model Lulu haplessly trying to explain to the press *why* violence is important in fashion photos.

A 1970's supernatural thriller in which most of the positives for me had to do with its setting and time period. The on-location footage in the dirty streets of New York, the peek behind the scenes at fashion shows, and all the hair on these actors held some appeal. Tommy Lee Jones and Faye Dunaway are both reasonably good in their roles, and filling in a solid supporting cast are Brad Dourif and Raul Julia. It was fun hearing "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave and "(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Band, though I didn't think the track from Barbra Streisand fit in as well.

The premise of a woman who suddenly develops the ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer was a pretty good one, and it was amusing guessing what was going, but the film got weaker as it went, leading to a disappointing payoff. The murder mystery is rather tepid (and a far cry from giallo if you ask me), and then a howlingly cheesy romance develops between the two leads. There is never a hint about what might be the cause of the clairvoyant ability, and the big twist doesn't jive very well with the actions of the characters beforehand. It's not terrible as a little window into the 70's, but it's not very good either.

Eyes of Laura Mars -- Horror/Thriller -- 1978

This is an old supernatural thriller of sorts from way back in the 70s'. It revolves around a female fashion/glamour photographer who lives to make crude photographic nudie art that sepcializes in scenes of violence. Some people find her "art" to be rather disturbing and horribly offensive. So someone decides to go around killing her friends and acquaintances. To make matters worse, Laura Mars can see the murders happening--through her own eyes!

Here's the breakdown:

The Good:

--Clever story, and fairly original. Adds a nice twist to the usual cops-hunting-murderer story.

--Good acting all around. Brad Dourif is creepy, Tommy Lee Jones is cool, Raul Julia is... kinda weird...

--Good atmosphere and cinematography all around, with some strong direction. The tense moments are generally pretty well done.

--Some nice, genuine, surprises throughout the film. It does manage to successfully keep you guessing just who the killer is.

Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help:

--Contains a decent amount of fairly well-known actors including Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif (better known as Chucky from the Child's Play series), Raul Julia, and Rene Auberjonois (famous for his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine role). It was also co-written by John "Halloween" Carpenter.

--Quite a bit of nudity. She is taking pictures of naked "victims of violence" after all.

--Somewhat grotesque 70's music permeates here and there.

--Some decent character development and depth.

The Bad:

--Not quite as scary or riveting as I'm sure it was back in '78. This review being written in 2006.

--Some "logic" problems every now and then. For instance, when Laura Mars sees someone being murdered, that's all she sees--yet there are times when she seems to be able to move around, once even driving a car, with more competence than one would expect from someone who just instantly "went blind."

--Occasional dips in the quality of the atmosphere and writing.

The Ugly:

--The make-up used on the models in the 70's. Holy crap!

Memorable Scene:

--Nice climax to the film.

Fun Fact:

--The photographic art in the film is actually from professional "glamour" photographer Helmut Newton.

Acting: 8/10 , Story: 8/10 , Atmosphere: 7/10 , Cinematography: 8/10 , Character Development: 7/10 , Special Effects/Make-up: 7/10 , Dialog: 7/10 , Music: 6/10 , Direction: 9/10

Nudity/Sexuality: 5/10 , Violence: 6/10 , Gore: 3/10

Cheesiness: 2/10 , Crappiness: 0/10

Overall: 7/10

Finally, I would recommend this to hardcore horror/thriller fans or film buffs. John Carpenter or Tommy Lee Jones fans will likely enjoy it. The movie is not without its problems, small though they are, but may not be enjoyed all that well by many modern viewers.

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I saw Eyes of Laura Mars a few years ago and just watched it again very recently. I remembered it as being fantastic but upon watching it again I was a little disappointed. It's a solid film, by no means bad, it's just nothing all that special.

For the past 3 years or so I've been totally hooked on giallo's and this film plays in a lot of ways like an homage to those Italian thrillers. Touches here and there remind you of Dario Argento (obsessive mirror imagery, Laura's visions etc.), Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino and Mario Bava, such as the model settings and murder scenarios. While this film scores heavy on style (and music, though I find this soundtrack a bit hokey, but generally OK) it just lacks the magic that the best giallo's seem to have. The plot, while intriguing enough, is not nearly played out to it's full potential. There are gripping scenes here to be sure, but the film drags quite a bit and nothing virtually happens for a long period of time.

For seasoned giallo fans, we know the killer is most definitely gonna be the most unlikely one, and for a lack of suspects, I didn't find it hard to figure out who was guilty, but there's pretty much no logic to support it (but that's a giallo trademark, a pro rather than a con actually). For me, the problem is that this film doesn't have the same trashy feel and atmosphere as the best Italian thrillers it seems to be imitating. In a lot of ways I like this film, certain scenes are truly gripping but there's simply something lacking. Being a huge fan of John Carpenter, I can't help but think what he could have done had he directed this. He came up with the story and shares the credits as the writer of the screenplay and what's more, he loves the Italian giallo films as well. His own homage to the genre; Someone's Watching Me, the little known TV film was terrific and you could see that he definitely had the feel for the genre and could easily translate it to American settings. I don't feel that Kershner, as good a director as he is, has the same love for the genre as Carpenter.

I recommend watching it, it scores on a number of levels.

Eyes of Laura Mars makes for a nice meeting point between glossy studio thriller and sleazy giallo inspired slasher. An all-star cast and a theme song by Barbra Streisand of all people makes the whole experience a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Faye Dunaway plays the title role of a high end fashion photographer whose models are being knocked off one by one by a mysterious killer. Even stranger, she's able to see these killings while they're happening, temporarily taking on the point of view of the mad slasher.

Tommy Lee Jones plays a detective and potential love interest for Dunaway in this odd, but captivating movie.

Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) is a celebrated fashion photographer. She is haunted by visions from a killer's eyesight. At her gala, she encounters police detective John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones) who hates the photos of violence against semi-nude women without knowing it's her. Those around her are killed and Neville investigates. Her pictures seem to mimic real crime scenes. Tommy Ludlow (Brad Dourif) is her driver. Donald Phelps (René Auberjonois) is her manager. Michael Reisler (Raul Julia) is her possessive ex-husband.

The killer's vision needs better consistency. It's mostly first person POV except sometimes it goes up to the murder weapon. It becomes more traditional but it needs to stay with the first person POV. Otherwise, it's a nice premise and the visual mostly works. It has blood and gore but like the photos, they are too stagey. The first thing that caught my eye is the writing credit for John Carpenter. This is pre-Halloween by a couple of months. If it somehow got released after Halloween, I'm sure they would have promoted Carpenter's script to death and it would be an even bigger hit. The great cast is doing good work. There is a twist that seems more for twist's sake. This is a nice middling mystery thriller although the pacing is not always that thrilling.

"Eyes of Laura Mars" is a fun late-70s period piece. Lots of disco-era clothing, glossy lipliner and feathered hair. It's famous primarily for its title song, "Prisoner," which became a hit single for Barbra Streisand.

Plotwise, it's pretty severely lacking. The murders keep things moving, but the movie fails to address several key questions -- WHY does Laura Mars have her visions? How does it happen? Raul Julia is wasted on a minor role, and performances by Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones wouldn't win any Oscars.

But all in all, it's worth a rental.

"Eyes of Laura Mars" is a slow, flabby thriller that could have made MUCH better use of its intriguing (if not original) initial idea. Director Kershner shows some style and flair, but this movie needs tighter storytelling. I found the script, co-written by John Carpenter, clever and quite unpredictable (unless you're trying to find the identity of the killer strictly by guessing), and there are OK performances by the entire cast, but this film is ultimately defeated by its uneven, meandering pacing.

It is well known that the script was rewritten many times. Originally written by John Carpenter I think what remains are about 10%.

I am guessing it's the main plot of Laura Mars being a photographer of sex and violence sees violence not only through a camera lens.

The camera lens itself is a great topic of how pictures from a camera and moved can be formed into a movie. Or in this movie a nightmare. But Irvin Kirshner decided to use it simply for effect. Besides that he tells a typical story of misleading the audience with a mediocre soundtrack.

Too bad, the movie had some great themes but nothing is done with it. It's not bad but could have been much much better...

This movie was around for twenty years before I saw it. I recall it as not having the best of reputations. But I found it to be suspenseful and it could be considered a forerunner of today's erotic thrillers.

Faye Dunaway is Laura Mars, a fashion/glamour photographer whose work is controversial in that some say it glorifies both sex and violence towards women. (Sounds like a pretty contemporary theme, doesn't it?) She becomes troubled by frightening visions she has of killers-eye views of murders. When a killing she has just "seen" turns out to have actually happened nearby she tells the police. She then finds out that a detective (Tommy Lee Jones) has already been investigating some cases where murder scenes closely resembled her photos.

Dunaway is always consistent in delivering good performances and this one is no exception. It was refreshing not to see Jones in his "Mr. Intensity" character he's played so often since 'The Fugitive.' Although some will doubtless find flaws to point up here and there, I found the film to be very enjoyable. Brad Dourif, Rene Aberjonois and Raul Julia also star. Irvin Kershner's direction is stylish and John Carpenter is responsible for the story and co-wrote the script.

This film feels like it could have been so much more. With acting talent like Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones, it should have been. I think the film tries too hard to be both Hitchcock and Italian "gaillo" film in equal measure, but ends up failing at both.

Worst acting, music, everything.

Faye Dunaway's melodramatic reactions to her visions were almost comical. The soundtrack was ridiculous.

Probably the film's only redeeming quality was the endless parade of topless women.( Great.... if you are a GUY.) A real waste of time.

This 1978 chiller directed by Irvin Kerschner (RoboCop 2) and based on a story by John Carpenter, has Faye Dunaway as a fashion photographer who suddenly discovers that she has the ability to "see" through the eyes of a serial killer. All her premonitions of the murders are very accurate, and the victims are all people she knows. Soon it becomes apparent the killer is coming after her. Tommy Lee Jones is great as the police lieutenant/love interest (back when his face wasn't pockmarked with age), and the supporting cast (Raul Julia, Brad Dourif) is excellent. The movie's depictions of the murders were quite shocking for it's day, and it manages to keep us scared and in suspense throughout, though some of the scenes border on grotesque. Direction by Kirschner is tight, music is suitably eery, and the performances are overall impressive. A winner

While watching "Eyes of Laura Mars", I kept wondering why it wasn't working for me. It's a thriller that didn't thrill me. One possible issue was Tommy Lee Jones, cast here perhaps before he found his niche playing hardass eccentric military and law enforcement personnel. He's a cop here too, but just seems distracted.

Faye Dunaway, on the other hand, does her darnedest and puts in a good performance, as does the always reliable Brad Dourif.

There is also an issue at the level of basic premise: the movie is about a woman who can see through the eyes of a killer, an ability that comes over her one day as a seizure from an illness she didn't know she had. I'm okay with the movie never explaining this ability or where it came from, but the screenplay missed an opportunity when it didn't really go into it at all.

It just leaves you with kind of a shallow mystery. There's an unnecessary red herring, when you've already worked out they've got the wrong guy, and then a twist at the end you also probably saw coming.

There's a good movie buried inside EYES OF LAURA MARS. It has a great, giallo-ish hook-- a photographer obsessed with violent and erotic imagery shares a psychic link with a serial killer picking off her friends. Its set in disco-era NYC and shows that setting off to great atmospheric advantage. It's potentially a thematic minefield with things to say about violence in modern society or the fashion industry. And if it's uninterested in all that, it could at least be a fantastic thriller.

Unfortunately, the movie squanders its potential. It's too silly to be taken seriously and takes itself too seriously to be fun like most genuine giallo are. Plot threads aren't developed fully, characters are mostly shallow. The psychic link is never explained. It feels like a middling TV movie of the week with a budget, and little else.

Please let this be remade as the ZOOLANDER sequel with Derek in the Faye Dunaway role and Faye returning as the killer....please please please. EYES OF LAURA MARS as we all know is a murder in furs drama with Joan Crawford...er Faye Dunaway dropping her NETWORK Oscar long enough to recommence more schlock, but this time with a camera. Rather like the Brit horror PEEPING TOM where the killer films his victims, she instead, SIXTH SENSE-less style sees the point of view death through eeeeeeeeek! the killer's own eyes.... basically "she sees dead models". Sadly, Columbia saw dead ticket sales. EYES OF LAURA MARS is a so bad it's good drama like WHITE MISCHIEF dripping this time with blood as swell as chic 70s glam. See! squabbling models ripping furs off each other at a car accident, blazing dashboards and flying pearls, stilettos and painted claws.... fantastic and all played for real d-r-a-m-a when suddenly (zing!-zing! Psycho music) and Faye as Laura is distracted from her lens to see ....eeeeek a-nother killing! Get friends over, get tipsy and add your own dialog!

I understand that this was filmed and set in the 70s in New York and I think it's meant to mirror some of the avant garde style of that time and locale, but I couldn't stand Faye's acting style in this film. Her character is supposed to be a strong, successful, visionary/controversial photographer. She seemed to start many scenes playing just that, but would then quickly fall to pieces and appear to not know where she was, what she was doing, or how to answer a simple question. This happens over and over. I felt like I was watching over- acting from the 40s.

The rest of the cast saved it for me. Especially Brad Dourif and Tommy Lee Jones.

I liked the general story and premise, but even at only 104 minutes, it felt drawn-out.

A lot of people seem to think the ending was predictable. It caught me pleasantly by surprise!

I doubt as many people will be as put off as I was by Faye's acting in this particular film, so I would recommend this with my own reservations. I love supernatural movies and whodunits, and this was an interesting combination of both. It is definitely dated, though. Good luck.

A surprisingly forgotten gem of a psychological thriller, Eyes of Laura Mars is a unique and sophisticated shocker that stands out from the normal variety of thrillers.

NYC fashion photographer is having visions where she sees through the eyes of the murderer that's targeting the people around her. But what will she do when she sees said murderer coming after her?

Eyes of Laura Mars was originally based upon a screenplay by master horror director John Carpenter, which isn't surprising considering just how imaginative and effectively frightening that this film comes off. Yet, Eyes' isn't just a terror film, it's also a film of intriguing mystery, sweeping romance, and well-rounded characters. All of this adds up to an enveloping story that's directed with flair and style by Irvin Kershner. The murder sequences pack plenty of tension, yet they aren't gory. The NYC filming locations are fantastic and allow for some truly breath taking cinematography. While the 70's fashions do date the film, they don't subtract from its over all impact. The soundtrack is composed of some great disco numbers, and the theme song by Barbara Streisand is stunningly good.

The cast is perhaps the best highlight of the film though. Star Faye Dunaway is excellent as always as our understandably disturbed heroine. Tommy Lee Jones is equally excellent as the police detective who falls in love with Dunaway. Rene Auberjonois is plucky as Dunaway's agent. Brad Dourif is good as the shifty-eyed driver, as is Raul Julia as Dunaway's wretched ex-husband.

Eyes of Laura Mars is on a level above the average terror film. It's not only thrilling, but strong enough to be emotionally devastating as well. Well worth finding for thriller and horror fans alike.

*** 1/2 out of ****

It was nice to see some old classic work in the late 70's from John Carpenter before his big break of stardom on "Halloween". With this work which John wrote "Eyes of Laura Mars" is one filled suspense thriller of drama and violence that keeps a viewer on the edge of their seat and it twist with a surprise. Set in New York City Faye Dunaway is an art fashion model photographer who starts to have visions of killings that are being done by a serial killer just like a psychic she sees it before it actually happens. One by one the clues lead closer to her. Look for Brad Dourif who gives a creep like turn as a drifter and my man Tommy Lee Jones is in top form as detective John Neville. Anyway aside from the blood, drama, suspense and sex in the end this picture takes a twist you really don't expect who the real killer is it will shock!