Eyes of a Stranger (1981)

Director: Ken Wiederhorn,

Starring: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti

A reporter suspects a creepy neighbor, who lives in the high-rise building across from hers, is a serial killer terrorizing the Miami area.

I must be honest, I never expected the film to be so brutal and gory. There’s quite a bit of gore and the killings are ruthless.

The antagonist is killer Stanley Herbert (John Disanti) – no, this is not a spoiler, this is revealed very early in the film. He phones his victims and threatens them, before killing them. (Wonder how he manages to get their numbers, since he randomly picks his victims).

The protagonists are Jane and Tracy Harris (Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh). Tracy is blind and mute, and I would have liked her to have a bigger role during the film before the finale. Jane, being a reporter, is compelled to do her own investigation when she suspects Stanley to be the culprit – having seen him in suspicious situations. The film is unpredictable and suspenseful. This is a well made film and women must have been scared as hell when their phone rang after watching the movie. In the vein of ‘When a stranger calls’ and ‘I saw what you did’.

‘Eyes of a stranger’ is actually a bloody good movie – better than expected. The film was a modest box office success, earning $1.1 million on an $800,000 budget.

Would I watch it again? Yes, I think so.