Eyes of a Stranger (1981)

Director: Ken Wiederhorn

Writers: Eric L. Bloom, Ron Kurz

Composers: Richard Einhorn, Red Neinkirchen

Starring: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti, Peter DuPre, Gwen Lewis, Kitty Lunn, Timothy Hawkins, Ted Richert, Toni Crabtree

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Sorry, your party is dead.

Plot: Enterprising local news anchor Jane Harris discovers that one of her neighbors is actually the serial killer/rapist who has been terrorizing the city. Jane must prove her suspicions before the killer gets to her.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Here's another average horror/thriller from the 80s but this one's got something the others don't...

That bit of nudity is completely unnecessary but we thank the film makers anyway.  It's Jennifer Jason Leigh's first major film role and the best scene in the film is between her and the killer.  He toys with her upon discovering she's blind and deaf.  It's a great, darkly playful moment that comes a little too late in the picture but it did get me to sit up a bit straighter and hold me until the end of the picture a few minutes later.  The rest of it is kind of by the numbers.  Tom Savini provides some great gore effects (yay!) and Lauren Tewes plays her mom (I kept wondering where I saw her before and then it hit me - she was Julie the cruise director on the TV show, LOVE BOAT (1977)).  The word on the street is this was initially going to be a straight up thriller until they decided to ride the current wave of slasher horror pictures and juice up the nudity and the kills.  I'm glad they did.  Director Wiederhorn previously made SHOCK WAVES (1977), a pretty damn good Nazi zombie horror flick with Peter Cushing.  Check that one out instead.