Night Eyes

Strolled down the B-grade section of my local video store and noticed this movie. Having read the main IMDb review earlier, I thought this movie might turn out to be quite entertaining. Sadly, it was not ! Very predictable. In its genre of B-grade, there are ample examples of better efforts.

The most common description used about "Night Eyes", both on this board and elsewhere, is "erotic thriller"; no fewer than seven of the previous twelve reviewers use this phrase. It is not, however, a particularly accurate description. The phrase "erotic thriller" generally suggests a softcore porno film in which a generic thriller plot is used to provide the links between, and a rationale for, numerous sex scenes. There have, of course, been plenty of films of that type, but this is not one of them. Although an adulterous love affair forms the mainspring of the plot, there are no actual love scenes and no nudity. There is a lot more eroticism in some mainstream Hollywood thrillers from this period such as "Fatal Attraction".

Nikki Walker, the estranged wife of a millionaire British rock star, hires Night Eyes, a firm of security consultants, to provide security at her mansion. Unknown to her, however, the company has been bribed by her husband Brian to spy on her and find evidence that she is having an affair. Brian Walker and his lawyer believe that if they can find such evidence they will be able to achieve a much more favourable financial settlement from the courts. (This implies that the Californian courts take, or at least took in the early nineties, a very moralistic attitude to divorce. I cannot imagine a British court reducing a wife's financial settlement on the grounds that she had formed a sexual relationship with another man after separating from her husband). Things, however, do not go according to plan. Will Griffith, the bodyguard who is supposed to be spying on Nikki, falls in love with the attractive young woman. Not only does he hide from Brian's lawyer the fact that Nikki is having an affair with Michael Vincent, a film star, he also begins sleeping with her himself. The movie then chronicles the disastrous consequences of this relationship.

The best among the cast is probably the little-known actor Warwick Sims as the hedonistic, self-obsessed rock star Brian, probably based on a combination of several British rockers from around this period. (No names mentioned). None of the other actors, however, makes any impression. Tanya Roberts could hardly be described as little-known; indeed, as a Playboy model and Charlie's Angel and Bond Girl she was a well-known celebrity during the eighties and early nineties. Her fame, however, had more to do with her looks than with her talent, a quality with which she was notably under-endowed. (Having a Hollywood scriptwriter for a husband probably helped as well). Here she seems to wander through the film as though in a trance, unable to connect with anyone around her. She had already received two Razzie "Worst Actress" nominations for "Sheena" and "A View to a Kill", and was lucky not to receive a third here. Andrew Stevens as Will is slightly better, but "slightly better than dreadful" is hardly high praise.

In 1990 some people obviously liked this film; it was a financial success at the box-office, having been made on a very small budget, and spawned three sequels, none of which I have seen. Today, however, it comes across as a very poor example of the standard nineties thriller, with second-rate (or in Roberts' case third-rate) acting and a hackneyed paranoid plot revolving around the questions of "who can trust whom?" and "who is betraying whom?" Less erotic thriller than neurotic thriller. 4/10

The rock star Brian Walker (Warwick Sims) is surprised by his wife Nicky (Tanya Roberts) shagging a woman in the bathroom in a party. Nicky asks the divorce, and Brian hires a security company to spy on her to prove that she is unfaithful and has love affairs. The security guard Will Griffith (Andrew Stevens) hides a camera in her bedroom and peeps on Nicky having sex with her lover but he hides the truth from Brian. Will protects Nicky from the violent Brian and they have a love affair. Nicky gets a restraint order against Brian and one night he breaks in the house and Will, who has fallen in love with Nicky, kills him with three shots. Will is prosecuted for the death of Brian, and he finds that Brian apparently was not the responsible for the aggressions to Nicky. Will investigates and discovers the truth about the whole case.

"Night Eyes" was a successful erotic thriller in the 90's, when I saw this movie twice. Today I have decided to watch my VHS again and the sexy femme fatale Tanya Roberts really makes this flick worthwhile. The flawed story has a reasonable development but the conclusion is absolutely disappointing and senseless. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Olhos Noturnos" ("Night Eyes")

Note: On 29 July 2021, I saw this film again.

The 90's went through a phase of these cookie cutter erotic thrillers and Night Eyes was one of the main culprits. It developed into a franchise, 4 movies in total and if the rest are like this it doesn't bode well.

You've seen an erotic thriller before I sure, a generic thriller movie with sex scenes popping up to prevent the viewer from getting bored.

This one tells the story of a man who hires a pair of security guards to keep an eye on his soon to be ex wife in a hope they'll record something that will help in in court when it comes to the settlement. One of the security guards starts to fall for her and the rest writes itself.

Of course a thriller isn't a thriller without a twist or two and the ones here you'll work out for yourself pretty early in the film.

Starring regular in these types of movie Tanya Roberts it's generic, it's trite and it's clearly not aimed at those seeking something they need to think about. Standard thriller stuff then cue the slow jazz for a sex scene and repeat.

The Good:

It ended

The Bad:

Soundtrack gets real old real fast

Nothing we haven't seen before

If an erotic thriller fails to be sexy they've failed one very front

Washed-out drunken rock star Brian Walker is having sex in the bathroom at his party and his wife Nikki (Tanya Roberts) catches him. He immediately announces their divorce in front of the guests. He hires security guards Ernie and Will Griffith (Andrew Stevens) to spy on her. They install cameras around her home as well as a secret one in her bedroom. Will watches her have sex with Michael Vincent. He hides it from Brian. He becomes obsessed and starts an affair himself with her. Brian runs into them at a gallery and gets combative. Brian breaks in one night and Will chases him off. After almost running over her, Nikki gets a restraining order against Brain despite his claim of an alibi. Brian comes in with a gun and Will shoots him but there's more to the story.

The plot is actually functional considering its B-movie nature. The acting is pretty stiff and the production is second rate. Stevens and Roberts are basically good enough and pretty enough to do the job. There is some T&A but it's not actually the main driver in this movie. The twist isn't unexpected. This is either a well written soft porn movie or a weakly made real movie.