Visiting Hours

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.

What starts as a decent slashers, quickly turns in to a boring snail of a movie with moments of interest sprinkled throughout. It should also be noted that it's a type of slasher where we see who is the killer at the very beginning of the movie and follow him along other main characters, while we learn about his troubled past, and that for me eliminates a lot of the suspense and scares. Speaking of scares (if you can even call them that), they mostly come from jumpscares. There is some decent acting, but there's also a laughable death scene and overall length of the movie. It's so unnecessarily long that I just wanted it to end. And then the interesting part comes. And then it's boring again. It does have what is probably one of the cutest nurse portrayals in a movie ever though. In the end, it's just a mediocre psychological thriller (so much for looking up to "Halloween 2") you will probably forget about very soon after you watch it. I give it 6/10, and do note it's barely a 6, because I would have given it 5, if it weren't for some interesting parts. Horror movie fans, do what you must, and the rest of you; avoid it.

A feminist angers a woman hating crew member on a TV talk show which triggers him to break into her house, attack her, and leave her for dead. She's transported to a local hospital, the creep gets wind of her recovery, and sets out to put an end to her once and for all. Lee Grant is the lead of the film, but doesn't get much to do for a majority of the film since she's either sedated, going in, or coming out of surgery, so most of the heavy lifting goes to Linda Purl as Grant's kind single mom nurse and Michael Ironside who has never been scarier as Grant's stalker/would be killer.

Some of the psychobabble about why Ironside is the way he is doesn't really work and feels a little cliched and the pacing of the film ebbs and flows with a lot of time given to a meaningless subplot between Grant and William Shatner. When the suspense and scares come, they deliver and the finale is very tense and satisfying.

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" did respectable business at the box office when it first came out, though it was torn apart by critics. To some degree, I do understand why those critics didn't like the movie at the time. For starters, at 105 minutes in length, the movie is far too long and padded out. Many people watching it today will be squirming in their seats from impatience rather than from terror. At the same time, there are a few head-scratching moments that suggest some explanatory footage was removed during the editing stage, like how Ironside's character gets uniforms and other material to disguise himself when going to the hospital. Slasher fans may be disappointed by the lack of gore and blood. In fact, the movie might be rated PG-13 instead of R by today's standards. And William Shatner's character is hammy and doesn't seem to serve much purpose.

But there are some things in the movie that give it merit. For starters, the movie looks very good, much more slick and expensive than most other slashers of this period. Director Jean Claude Lord also does add some atmosphere and some creepy composed shots here and there. The best thing about the movie, however, is Michael Ironside as the killer. He manages to be both extremely creepy and believable. It's no surprise that he went on to become a fairly well-known star after his great performance here.

To sum up, "Visiting Hours" is flawed and no classic, but as an example of the slasher film genre, it's definitely above average, and a must watch if you are a fan of this genre.