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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Stylish low-budget slasher flick, 16 August 2001
5/10
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Surprisingly decent entry in the slasher-flick genre has attractive, spunky Lauren Tewes (here on loan from TV's "The Love Boat", and doing excellent work besides) playing crack reporter hunting down a serial killer of women. Jennifer Jason Leigh, with her thick crop of hair and pale skin, is luminous in her film-debut as Tewes' deaf-mute-and-blind sister (her sequence in the kitchen with the killer is incredibly well-staged). The movie's first priority is to be a bloodfest, and some of the violence is predictably disgusting; however, of its type, "Eyes" isn't half bad! I found the grainy production quite eerie, John DiSanti gives a brave performance as the hefty psycho, and, as noted, Tewes is terrific. Who knew?? ** from ****

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Unspectacular but effective, 8 October 2003
7/10
Author: Bryce David

EYES OF A STRANGER is an effective thriller. It unfortunately does have a TV movie feel/look to it and the slight story takes place only in a couple of apartments and parking lots. But even if there's nothing remotely original or spectacular about it, in the end, I thought it was effective nonetheless. There are a couple of standout scenes, like the head in the fish tank and the scene when the woman is taking a shower and the killer is staring at her with his face pressed against the glass door. Creepy!!! And the scene when Lauren calls the killer is full of tension. The acting by Jennifer Jason Leigh was very good, and to my surprise, even Lauren Tewes was good and nothing like the annoying saccharine character she played on THE LOVE BOAT. I recommend EYES OF A STRANGER to fans of thrillers, slashers or horror films.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
High in Intrigue and also Atmospheric, 15 August 2006
8/10
Author: mountain227 from USA

As a horror-film fan who likes certain types of chillers, I would say this bit of work is solid in atmosphere and fairly gripping at times.The musical score is out of this world, and John DiSanti was brilliant.The directing by Mr.Weiderhorn was very creative and was at the near peak of perfection in capturing the mood and atmosphere of the stalk scenes.I found the conclusion somewhat anti-climatic, but most all else was captivating.This film arrived on the scene right at the high water-mark for slasher-chiller flicks,and it is easily lost in the clutter of all the other famous and even not-so famous films of this genre.Once again the music was delightfully scary.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent slasher flick., 3 October 2007
7/10
Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada

Lauren Tewes of 'Love Boat' fame stars here as a TV anchorwoman who lives with her deaf, dumb, and blind sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh, making an appealing film debut). She comes to suspect that one of her own neighbors is the serial rapist / killer stalking Miami, and takes it upon herself to catch the psycho.

With shades of "Rear Window", this creepy and sleazy little film was originally intended to be more of a straight thriller, but the producers were all too conscious of the slasher craze going on at the time, and insisted on adding the gore and nudity. Tom Savini provides the gore, although in reality it's very restrained compared to his work on such films as "Maniac", "The Prowler", and "The Burning". One major gag is an exact copy of a similar scene in "He Knows You're Alone": a severed head in a fish tank.

The film itself is actually not all that bad. Better slashers have been made, true enough, but there have also been worse. Director Ken Wiederhorn (who shows scenes from his spooky 1976 flick "Shock Waves" playing on TV sets here) establishes an eerie, uncomfortable mood, enhanced quite well by an excellent Richard Einhorn music score.

Tewes is quite acceptable in the lead, although Leigh and John DiSanti, as the lustful, disgusting cretin, are the obvious standouts.

It begins ominously enough, with one of the victims being discovered underwater by a photographer, and doesn't waste any time, providing some solid, sordid thrills from beginning to end. I definitely liked it.

7/10

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
I've seen better (but, I've also seen much worse...), 13 May 2003
Author: BillyBC from Vancouver

(**1/2 out of *****)

"The Love Boat"'s Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh (in one of her first roles) star in this derivative, unpleasant, but not-too-bad movie about a serial rapist-killer who makes obscene and threatening phone calls to his potential victims before murdering them (like in "Black Christmas"). One male victim is decapitated and his head is stuffed in a fish tank (like in "He Knows You're Alone"). Tewes plays a local news anchorwoman who suspects that the tenant in the apartment across the yard from hers is the killer, so she spies on him and conducts her own investigation (like in "Rear Window" and "Sisters"). In spite of the obvious influences from better films and the near-misogynistic depictions of women being stalked, raped and murdered, this movie does manage to generate some genuine suspense here and there, particularly in the frightening climax. Tom Savini did the make-up effects, but it looks like a lot of the potentially bloodier stuff was cut out. Wiederhorn also directed the much-better ‘77 underwater-Nazi-zombie thriller "Shock Waves," which, in this film, is shown playing on television in two different scenes (and, curiously, also features one victim being stuffed in a fish tank -- does this recurring motiff make Wiederhorn some kind of an auteur?)

HIGHLIGHT: Alone in the apartment with Leigh, who plays Tewes' deaf, mute, and blind younger sister, the killer toys with her by moving plates and knives out of her reach while she tries to cut a piece of cake.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Eyes that Kill!, 23 July 2008
Author: saint-21 from pa

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

spoilers ahead..

Chances are, this movie is over 25 years old , if you haven't seen it by now, you probley won't!

Eyes of a stranger came out in the spring of 1981 along with the slasher craze of the early 80's 1981 seemed to be a huge year for slashers.

Eyes of a stranger plays like a made for t.v. movie with some pretty violent scenes and some gore.

The story is a crazed killer is stalking women in Miami FL. And hes targeted a young jennifer jason leigh as his next victim.

with gore effects done by tom savini of all people who was pretty busy from 1980-1983.. doing gore shots for horror films. The violence in eyes seems like its real, we get a woman being attacked in her apartment and raped. and we get a lovers lane couple getting sliced up too. One departure from the other slashers i will point out is when the woman has her throat sliced in the car, she suffers quite a bit making it look disturbing and realistic. She basically chokes on her own blood. So warner now has finally put the film out on DVD In its uncut glory... And don't forget to watch for the head in the fish-tank i kid you not...

not much else... also look for the Dawn of the dead poster outside the movie theater, kinda a inside joke cause tom savini also did the effects for that film as well..

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Not great, but above average for the genre and period, 26 April 2000
Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC

It is clear that they were trying to make something different than the usual slasher film here. For one thing, there isn't much gore, and the emphasis is on the mood - which is indeed creepy at times. The mystery part of the story - where the heroine does her own (dangerous) investigation is a good touch, though it is a little derivative of "Rear Window". No classic, but most viewers will find it much better than they expected.

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Helen Killer, 19 April 2009
Author: Poseidon-3 from Cincinnati, OH

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Coming along when slasher flicks were enjoying popularity and when female newscasters in peril was also a common hook, this thriller failed to catch on when it was released (due in part, perhaps, to some censoring of the more graphic violence.) Tewes is a pretty news anchor living in a south Florida high-rise with her sister, the deaf-mute victim of a crime perpetrated against her as a young girl. While Tewes reports a series of deaths by serial killer on the air, she soon begins to suspect that her neighbor DiSanti is behind them! She has spotted him in bloodstained clothing and in a mud-splattered car following the discovery of a body in such a place. The audience is made aware early on that DiSanti is the deranged, sadistic killer (who, by day, appears like any pudgy, white-collar businessman), but watches as Tewes carries out a dangerous investigation of her own. Unfortunately, her rather sloppy approach to unmasking him turns his eye to her debilitated sister (Leigh) and she becomes the next girl on his list. Tewes enjoys playing something other than the bubbly and lightweight role she played on "The Love Boat" and generally does well in this far more serious role. DiSanti has few lines and is actually quite terrifying in his brawny, creepy way, never more so than when he presses his face up against one young lady's shower door! Leigh, in one of her earliest roles (and also one of her least grating), isn't given a great deal to do until the end, but performs admirably. Her encounter with DiSanti is memorably taunting. DuPre (sporting very dated glasses and hair) plays Tewes yuppie, ineffectual boyfriend. Lewis, Lunn and Crabtree play three of DiSanti's victims and their scenes provide varying degrees of suspense, with Lewis's probably taking the cake as the creepiest. Though there's never any doubt that it's not even close in quality, the film takes a few cues from Hitchcock's "Rear Window," even making DiSanti resemble that film's killer Raymond Burr. There are some genuine scares to be had here as DiSanti uses the telephone to taunt his early prey. This does turn unintentionally funny in Lunn's segment as he somehow manages to patch through to the emergency phone in the elevator! Other chuckles pop up when Tewes rolls around in her ghastly dark bedclothes with matching headboard and drapes and when she hangs from a balcony, eventually intruding upon an aged couple having their morning coffee. For what it is, it's an enjoyably tawdry little film with a few decent gore sequences and a creepy feel to it. At 85 minutes, it's also easy to digest and doesn't become oppressive to sit through.

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Not too bad, 5 March 2009
5/10
Author: Bjorn (jbjorns) from Iceland

"Eyes of a Stranger" is really more of a thriller than a slasher and as such it ain't too bad. It does look like someone watched "Rear Window" and John Carpenter's "Someone's Watching Me" too often, so the originality factor is pretty much out the window. Other than that, the flick does establish a fair amount of mood and atmosphere, particularly in the well handled opening scene.

Overall the set pieces here are well done. The film isn't all that gory but it does have it's moments. The end conclusion is a bit too predictable and stretched but up until then it's a decent thriller.

Acting isn't great, only Leigh comes off credible as the deaf and blind sister of the protagonist. But I gotta admit, there's something very creepy about the dude who plays the psycho.

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Do you get that feeling you're being watched?, 20 February 2007
7/10
Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.

A series of gruesome sex murders is plaguing a coastal community of Miami and the police seem to be well behind the eight ball. Jane, a local TV news reader urges viewers each time a murder happens to ring up with any sort of information to catch this killer. This really strikes a nerve with her, as her blind and deaf sister Tracy who she lives with was raped and left for dead when she was a child. Causing this traumatic condition. After some unusual coincidences, Jane starts to suspect her neighbour Stanley Herbert might be behind the murders.

After making the sorely underrated 70s horror gem "Shock Waves" (which appears in the film in a couple of shots focusing on a TV), director Ken Wiederhorn returns back to the genre with an low-budget Hitchcock inspired thriller, which to fit the trend of the times it also threw in many 80s slasher traits. While derivatively clichéd and filled with some implausible scenarios, it's still well made and actually can be creepy, suspenseful and at times a clever exercise in familiarity. The voyeuristic plot, yep it's got one. Rings true to "Rear Window (1954)" and even "Wait Until Dark (1967)". The killer's identity is brought up quite early, so there's no surprise there and through flashbacks we actually see what happened to Tracy. Which goes a long way to show how hard it hit Jane and the guilt that plagues her with her involvement in getting this predator. The characters here are capable of looking after themselves and have good judgement of common sense.

After a strong opening half and being realistically staged in parts, it then it falls away gradually and becomes the run-of-the-mill stalk and slash vehicle that simply leaves you waiting for it cracking conclusion. What little substance it generates is broken up by the ridiculously nonthreatening phone calls taunting his victims and its random acts of unpleasant violence. Make-up artist Tom Savini is the master behind the death-sequences and crafts some good effects. While, one or two moments stand out, sadly most of the scenes were off camera or were cut out. The suspenseful situation really does lose out to the basic slasher set-ups and seedy intentions of its material. Wiederhorn's tight direction is sturdily achieved and he doesn't go at a cracking pace. The grimly washed-out look of the film enhances the eerily sordid atmosphere. The moody lighting, Richard Einhorn and Red Neinkirchen's ominously alarming electronic music score and leering camera-work by Mini Rojas simply soaked up the encroaching menace of a city plagued by a vicious killer. The cast provide spot-on performances. An effectively worthy Lauren Tewes (Love Boat fame) gives it her all as the gusty TV news reader Jane and the delightfully stunning Jennifer Jason Leigh in her first major screen role plays it accordingly assured as the blind/death Tracy. Looking the part, John DiSanti's lumbering physic and unnerving attitude is rather convincing as the murderer.

It's nothing out of the ordinary and it can get contrived, but it's well-made and provides potently active lead performances.

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