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Eyes of a Stranger movie storyline. A serial killer is running amok in southern Florida, he targeting young women, who he sexually molests before strangling them. There have also been collateral victims who were probably at the wrong place at the wrong time. Local Miami television news reporter Jane Harris, on air, will often go off copy into what amounts as public service announcements to young women when talking about this story as she takes what is happening personally in her younger sister Tracy Harris having been abducted and sexually molested when she was a child.
In feeling guilty for her indirect role in what happened to Tracy, Jane now lives with and takes care of an adult Tracy, who, probably due to psychosomatic issues as no physical issues were ever discovered, has become deaf, mute and blind from that experience, but who has largely become self-reliant within the structured confines of their apartment unit.
Jane, in spying him acting suspiciously, begins to believe that one of the neighbors in their large apartment complex, that man who she does not know, is the killer. Her accusations of this neighbor solely on circumstantial evidence does not sit well with Jane’s boyfriend David, a criminal attorney. As such, Jane goes on a personal quest to find that conclusive evidence, she taking greater risks as she believes she is getting closer to exposing him. Her actions may place her and Tracy at the top of the killer’s hit list.
Eyes of a Stranger is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Ken Wiederhorn. It features makeup effects by Tom Savini and marked the film debut of Jennifer Jason Leigh. Eyes of a Stranger was released in 180 theaters in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 27, 1981, earning $546,724 during its opening weekend. It eventually grossed an estimated $1.1 million.
Film Review for Eyes of a Stranger
The movie begins with a body which is found. There has been three murders recently in Miami. A woman is being followed home by some weirdo. He calls her on the phone. She calls the police to tell them about it. She goes home but the killer is at her place. Her boyfriend calls over and the killer murders him. Cut to a reporter called Jane(Tewes) who lives with her deaf, mute and blind sister Tracy(Leigh). She has a boyfriend called David(Peter DuPre). Jane recalls when she was younger and how she was with Tracy but she left her alone. Tracy got picked up by a man.
Jane sees a car in the lot and she asks the security man who owns it. He tells her it is a man who lives in the apartment across the street. The killer strikes again. Jane begins to think that the killer is a man called Stanley Herbert(DiSanti). The killer continues his spree. Jane continues to think about what happened to her sister. The doctors couldn’t figure out why she was blind, deaf and mute. Jane becomes convinced that Herbert is the killer. She gets the key to his apartment and she enters. She looks around but he comes back unexpectedly. She escapes with his shoe. She gives the shoe to David, who is a lawyer. He thinks that she is crazy.
Jane gets herself a gun and she decides to call Herbert and tell him that she knows he is the killer. She keeps calling him. He tells her that he is confused. He recognises her voice from TV and he knows who she is. He decides to go after her sister. He goes to Jane’s place and he sees Tracy. He messes with her at first. She realises that he is there and she throws coffee at him and runs.
Jane is is in his apartment. She can see her place from across the street and she spots him in there. Tracy finds that her sight is returning. She finds the gun and she shoots at Herbert. She thinks that he is dead so she lets her guard down. He gets back up and attacks her again. Janet comes home and she manages to shoot Herbert in the head. Tracy regains her speech.
This was an interesting movie. It has elements of horror and thriller. The special effects were by Tom Savini but some of the gorier scenes were cut from the version I saw so it was a disappointment there. I enjoyed the story,though and I thought that it was a good movie throughout. I did think that the side story about the sister being abducted when she was young could have been left out. but I suppose it added to the ending of the movie. It was fun to see Jennifer Jason Leigh in her first role. She didn’t do much, but I didn’t dislike her character. Overall, this is an entertaining film which is worth a look.
Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
Directed by: Ken Wiederhorn
Starring: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti, Peter DuPre, Gwen Lewis, Kitty Lunn, Timothy Hawkins, Ted Richert, Toni Crabtree, Robert Small, Stella Rivera, Dan Fitzgerald
Screenplay by: Mark Jackson
Production Design by: Jessica Sack
Cinematography by: Mini Rojas
Film Editing by: Rick Shaine
Art Direction by: Jessica Sack
Makeup Department: Dean Gates, Tom Savini
Music by: Richard Einhorn
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 27, 1981
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