He Knows You're Alone

After a death of a young woman in a movie theatre, the pattern continues of a serial killer targeting brides-to-be before the night of their wedding. Amy is the next one who's got the killer's eye and he begins to follow her. She starts picking up on the coincidences and soon worries for her well-being as her big day draws closer. On the case is a cop (who's been after the guy from the very beginning) has tracked down killer's next victim, now it's a matter of time just who gets to Amy first.

Standard post-Halloween low-budget slasher with a smart title that really has no relation to anything in the film, but gains topical interest for being the starting point of a young charismatic (it was there from the get-go) Tom Hanks in a tiny role. Oh my god, oh my god it's Tom Hanks! Hey it's really nothing new, as how many stars have began in low-rent horror films. Now we got that out of the way, let's stick to the movie.

No surprises, as it's systemically written, but well illustrated and organised in its clichés to keep one amused. There's a nasty, violent side there, but it never goes that far or do anything with an imaginative gist. Instead of being graphic and exploitive, a 'Psycho' vibe melted with 'Halloween' is demonstrated. An old-styling of giving the situations more weight and colour nicely breaks up the stalk n slash elements. The side-story of the cop tracking down the killer is underplayed, but works better for it. While the motive (quite an obvious, if not particularly convincing one) of the bride killer is suggested in a flashback scene… or that's what it seems. No hiding the fact who's the killer, as we see him and wielding a blade as he openly takes out his first victim that closely resembles the opening of Wes Craven's slasher hit 'Scream 2 (1997)".

Armand Mastroianni (The man behind little unknown horror oddities such as 'Cameron's Closet (1989)', 'The Supernaturals (1986) 'and very good 'The Clairvoyant (1982)') fashionably controlled direction is all about placement and build-up, despite the sparse atmosphere and at times mishandled suspense or the lack of it. Few set-pieces work and some neat location choices (carnival setting to morgue), and they come off during the latter end and the pace never slouches within the tight time-frame. Sound FX is effectively sourced and Alexander and Mark Scardion's music score (with a touch of Halloween) packs a sting amongst its unusual cues. The lead heroine comes off well-rounded and enforcers a head of steam thanks to the perky confidence of Caitlin O'Heaney. Don Scardino is likable as her ex-boyfriend who still has feelings for her and Elizabeth Kemp as one of her colourful friends. Lewis Arlt productively gets out a worn-out cop routine and Tom Rolfing's lurking presence makes for a modest killer who's good at slicing and dicing with little to no blood being spilt (truly class- work!) and staring down his victims.

While Psycho was one of the great films of all-time, we've all had to pay a high price ever since. The slasher genre was ignited by the phenomenal success of John Carpenter's Psycho homage "Halloween", and an interminable series of slasher movies followed in the late '70s and early '80s. Halloween II, Happy Birthday To Me, Friday the 13th, The Final Terror, Visiting Hours, Prom Night and He Knows You're Alone are just a handful of titles that spring to mind. He Knows You're Alone is a fairly forgettable example from 1980, but it has sporadic moments of suspense and is of curiosity interest as the movie debut of Tom Hanks.

A knife-wielding killer (Tom Rolfing) preys upon young brides-to-be. Years earlier, he murdered his ex-girlfriend on her wedding day and has been pursued ever since by the cop, Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt), to whom she was due to be wed. The disturbed psycho starts a new campaign of bride-brutalising, first stabbing an engaged woman in a movie theater, and then stalking resourceful young Amy Jensen (Caitlin O'Heaney, in a very winning performance), whose future husband is away on a bachelor weekend. One by one, Amy's friends fall foul of the killer, until she seeks the aid of her ex-boyfriend, oddball morgue attendant Marvin (Don Scardino), in escaping from her stalker.

Director Armand Matroianni (son of actor Marcello) borrows heavily from earlier genre entries. His build-up in the murder sequences is almost identical to Carpenter's use of lighting, music and point-of-view camera shots in Halloween. The gore is kept to a minimum (apart from a quite bloody severed-head-in-a-fishtank scene) and a greater emphasis is placed on suspense. Alas, many of the "suspenseful" moments are rather fluffed because the director makes it too obvious when the jump-out-of-your-seat moments are about to occur. Hanks has a very small role as a psychology student who gives the film's self-referential speech about why people love to be scared by horror movies. He's competent in the role, but one wouldn't have predicted from this evidence that he would go on to become a super-star. A major flaw with the film is that Tom Rolfing's killer character is supposed to be a bride killer, but he breaks his own rules on numerous occasions by hacking down victims who are not brides-to-be. In fact, some of his murders are so senseless and unmotivated that he comes across more as a rampaging killing machine than anything else. It just seems to me that films of this ilk should at least make a small amount of sense, at least on their own terms.He Knows You're Alone is a competent and forgettable slasher film... if you're a fan of the genre you'll like it, if you're not you won't.

With a title like this and a trend of mindless slashers just burgeoning in the early 80s, one might think this film would have little to offer. I was mildly pleasantly surprised how fairly well-put together the film is. The story is not all that inventive about a loose murderer who having killed at a wedding now kills girls about to be married. The opening murder in the movie theater is one of the most effective scenes in the whole film as it sets the tone for the film and, with slasher film playing during murder, firmly plants tongue in cheek making fun of itself. I can respect any film doing that at the beginning. The story then sets up with one girl in particular being preyed upon by the killer shortly before she is intended to be married(isn't that death enough?)What sets this film apart from the many clones that follow and the shorter than you might suspect list of those filmed beforehand is that this film has some talent in it. Not great talent but talent nonetheless. Armand Mastroianni does an effective job behind the camera creating some pretty chilling scenes despite having virtually no budget. His approach to filming Tom Rolfing as the murderer was a good choice; have the killer lurking but rarely ever seen fully. His presence is felt through much of the film creating tension. Nice move. The director also was very good at pacing the action in the film. The actors are all decent(with the exception of a policeman working on the case prior to the new prey - Whew! he is bad). A very young, unknown Tom Hanks has a small role, and one can see some obvious talent in his unimportant role. One flaw in the direction might be the overuse of the eye close-up of virtually everyone in the film. I cannot remember seeing so many eyeballs so close, but some of these also help aid the suspense. A little goes a long way though. Again, not a great film but an entertaining one in the sub-genre of the slasher film. It is miles ahead in almost every regard over tripe like Friday the 13th.

He Knows You're Alone seemed to come pretty early in the 80's slasher boom, so it hues closer to Halloween than, say, Friday the 13th in the gore department. It fancies character development and suspense over cheesy effects and severed limbs flying everywhere and it's all the better for it.

Despite a silly detective subplot that feels unneeded (if we're being honest, most detective subplots in these kinds of movies are unneeded), He Knows You're Alone is a fairly well paced and suspenseful slasher film centering around Amy, a bride to be with cold feet, who's being stalked by a mysterious man. She sees him at the bridal store, ice cream shop, outside her window, and even in a carnival haunted house. He's definitely been taking a few pages from the Michael Myers playbook, because he's taking his sweet time to get to her by disposing of her friends and loved ones first, all the while a slightly familiar piano/synth theme plays.

This movie is mostly known for being the breakthrough film of Tom Hanks these days, but He Knows You're Alone stands quite well on its own two legs as a somewhat scary example of a slasher movie. It has its pacing issues here and there, but the characters are well drawn for a film of this type and that just adds to the suspense.

Yet another enjoyable 80's slasher but added with a little something different. The characters are not stupid teens, the killer doesn't wear a mask and there is not gratuitous gore and nudity prioritized for plot and story. This is actually a really neat and slick slasher film, and not as sleazy as many other movies of the same type.

The acting is above average. Caitlin O'Heaney is a really sincere and likable heroine, who - like her on screen friends - is so sympathetic that you really care for her. Don Scardino is also very likable, and fun, as O'Heaney's ex-boyfriend. Also, for curiosity seekers, a pre-fame Tom Hanks (in his debut) pops up in an early role and fits in rather well. Too bad his on screen time is limited to two scenes where he explains the psychology of fear.

This film has quite a bit of suspense and thrilling horror and adding to the suspense and thrills. Only O'Heaney's character is aware that something's wrong and it's her fear that we can sympathize with. Also there are effective locations like amusement parks, movie theatres (in a good opening scene that obviously inspired "Scream 2") and a big house.

Unfortunately the film has some serious flaws. It would work really well as a thriller but is obviously built up like a slasher film. Still it lacks gore and the murders are very unoriginal and often off-screen. Also, like many horror films this starts out great but falls back on a disappointing climax. After behaving pretty rationally throughout the movie our heroine makes several stupid mistakes before turning into a wimp who doesn't seem to be able to defend herself.

All in all a slick slasher film with a good and likable cast sympathetic characters and suspenseful situations.