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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 :-
I Only Have Eyes For You, 11 April 2005
6/10
Author: sol from Brooklyn NY USA

**SPOILERS** Since Jane's, Lauren Tewes, younger sister Tracy, Jennifer Jason-Leigh,was abducted and traumatized when she was a little girl she lost her ability to see speak or hear. This made Jane very protective of Tracy to the point where it interfered with her personal and professional life, Jane is a Miami TV news reporter.

There's this serial murder on the loose in Miami Beach and what terrified Jane is not herself becoming a victim of the killer but her defenseless kid sister Tracy ending up dead because of him. We get to see the killer in action early in the movie when he stalks, on foot and by phone, nightclub dancer Debbie,Gwen Lewis. After getting himself into her apartment the killer decapitates Debbie's boyfriend Jeff, Thimothy Hawkins, and then strangles Debbie with his belt. Within minutes we, the audience, as well as Jane get to see the killer and realize who he his: Stanley Hurbert, John DiSanti, Debbie's and Tracy's next door neighbor.

since we already know who the killer is there's no surprise to his identity but there is a a lot of terror and suspense in the fact that Jane in trying to get the proof that Herbert is the serial killer puts herself, as well as young Tracy, in his sights as his next two victims.

Getting enough evidence on Hubert by breaking into his apartment and getting one of his shoes that from the scene of a triple-murder that he committed. Debbie later gives it to her boyfriend David, Peter DePre, to get checked out by the police lab was enough to get Herbert on Jane tail. When she starts to make annoying and threatening telephone calls Herbert finally realized who she was,by later seeing and hearing Jane on her TV news show, that made him home in on her and her sister like a heat-seeking missile.

Even though both Lauren Tewes and young 19 year-old Jennifer Jason-Leigh were very good, as two of psycho-killer Herbert intended victims, in the movie it was John DiSanti as Stanley Herbert who stole the show as the creepy and at the same time, if you didn't realize who he really was, unsuspecting killer. It wasn't until the last ten or so minutes of the movie when Herbert went wild trying to murder Tracy that he really showed how crazy and murderous he was. Better then you would expect from a B-murder TV-type film even though it wasn't a made for TV the movie,"Eyes of a Stranger" delivers and delivers big.

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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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