HorrorFan1984

A serial killer stalks random women in 'Eyes of a Stranger', a well done early 80's slasher featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh in her film debut.

We meet one of our leads, Jane, who is a newscaster focused in on the serial killings taking place in Miami. She is also the caregiver to her young sister Tracy who is legally blind. The film's first victim is a woman named Debbie who works at a strip club. We see our killer stalking her down the street at night as she's walking home. Once she's home, he makes his way to a phone booth and calls her using a creepy voice doing heavy breathing and makes crude comments. The next victim is a woman who is working late at an office tower. As she's working, the killer does his usual trick of obscene calling, this time playing a creepy music box song in the background, eventually killing her. Our lead Jane and her sister Tracy live in a beautiful waterfront high rise, little does she know, the serial killer lives in the identical condo directly across from hers! As the body count in the city rises, Jane gets increasingly interested in finding out who the culprit is.

'Eyes of a Stranger' reminded me of another horror movie from the 80's called 'Don't Answer the Phone'. Very similar tone and presence, but done in a tasteful way with this one. The stalking scenes were effective, you could feel the killer closing in on each victim. Good direction by Ken Wiederhorn and acting from John DiSanti who plays Stanley Herbert, the psychopath stood out. Jennifer Jason Leigh did a terrific job in her first ever role, and Lauren Tewes played the protective fiery big sister to perfection. The first murder set the tone for the entire film in a good way. The creepy phone call to Debbie followed by a few jump scares in her apartment, really unsettling stuff (not to mention the actual attack). Tom Savini did the makeup and effects, which were stellar as always.

I highly recommend all horror fans give 'Eyes of a Stranger' a watch. It isn't without flaws, but it kept my attention from start to finish, and also featured some really well done tense moments between the killer and his targets.

7/10.

It's the 'End of the Line' for a group of train passengers trying to survive a cultist attack in this 2007 Canadian horror film.

We meet Karen, a very traumatized woman who has been having terrible nightmares involving being attacked on a subway train. After completing her during late evening shift at the hospital, Karen leaves and heads to take the train home still plagued by the nightmares she's been having along with strange drawings she's been receiving which has depictions of demons taking over the world. Once at the subway tracks. Karen notices a cute young man and makes eyes with him. Also there is a creepy man who starts harassing her. The other guy (Mike) stops anything bad from happening.

Once on the train, Karen is jolted when it suddenly stops mid tunnel. After some intense moments of Karen seeing visions of a dead girl on the tracks, we find out that there is a doomsday cult which has been consuming and distributing hallucinogen laced muffins which make people have visions of demons - Karen ate one at work. The goal of the cult is to save the souls of humanity for God, which is done by killing non-believers with swords and daggers. With the group set to take over the world, Karen and a group of train passengers will have to try and fight off the cultists who are committed to creating a mass suicide.

Shot entirely in Toronto, and being from the city, it was cool to see some very familiar subways station locations from our TTC transit line. The opening scene of the film was so effective, and had the best jump scare of the entire thing. 'End of the Line' was a pretty effective horror thriller with an interesting and very different premise than what we're used to in the genre. I thought having the main filming location be on a subway train (and in the tracks) helped build a very claustrophobic atmosphere which was great. The acting overall was alright, with Ilona Elkin leading the way as Karen. The major failure of the movie is how slow it runs after an exhilarating first 30 minutes. Once the characters go on the run to avoid the cultists, it kinda drags on and on and gets a bit dull.

All in all, I'd recommend giving 'End of the Line' a watch. It's got an interesting plot and some really well done kill scenes, it just drags on a bit too much in the middle towards the end.

6/10.

Visions of murder occur through the 'Eyes of Laura Mars' in this late 70's horror thriller starring Faye Dunaway and a young Tommy Lee Jones.

Laura Mars is a beautiful fashion photographer who specializes in taking photos which feature stylized violence. The night before the release of her book, Laura has a dream of an assailant entering a woman's apartment. The next night, Laura discovers that her photo editor was brutally murdered with an ice pick. Shortly after that, Laura has another vision of a brutal stabbing, and ends up stumbling on the crime scene. She tells the police that she witnessed it, but can't rationalize how she saw it to them. One police detective, Neville, shows an interest in the case and with Laura Mars. He and the police start to suspect Laura's ex husband Michael, or Laura's driver Tommy of the serial killings. As the body count rises, and the visions increase, will Laura be able to identify the killer as one of the two suspects ... or is it someone else all together?

At it's core, the 'Eyes of Laura Mars' was interesting insight to what the 70's were like when it comes to photography and models being shot nude. A lot of the story and dialogue pushed both sides of the coin when it came to public opinion on where violence and nudity in media was heading back then. The acting in this was top notch with Faye Dunaway shining in the lead role of Laura Mars. Also standing out was a young Brad Dourif (classic voice of Chucky) who played Laura's creepy driver. The murders in the film were mostly gore and violence free, taking place either off screen or with a blurry vision of Laura's. Where 'Eyes of Laura Mars' really succeeded was the second half of the movie and the reveal of the killer's identity. It was very tense and very well done by the actors involved.

Overall, I would recommend 'Eyes of Laura Mars' to anyone interested in a well paced thriller with a murder mystery twist. It doesn't do anything to wow the audience overall, sticks to a cookie cutter pattern for this type of movie, but it kept my attention throughout.

6/10.