Visiting Hours (1982)

Director: Jean-Claude Lord

Writer: Brian Taggert

Composer: Jonathan Goldsmith

Starring: Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl, William Shatner, Lenore Zahn, Harvey Atkin, Helen Hughes, Michael J. Reynolds, Kirsten Bishop

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There is no known cure.....for MURDER.

Plot: A crazed, women-hating killer (Ironside) attacks journalist Deborah Ballin (Grant). When he discovers that his attack didn't kill Deborah, he comes to the hospital to finish what he started.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Well this wasn't so bad.  Ironside makes a menacing killer who is relentless in wanting to kill Deborah (Grant).  I like his stick-to-it-iveness.  There are lots of kills and the suspense is pretty good but because it's a hospital slasher of sorts it's got shades of HALLOWEEN II (1981) that only came out a year before.  That film was much darker in tone and in how it was shot like it had the lights turned off and VISITING HOURS left them on.  It's not typical of the era as the characters aren't very young and it tries to say something with Deborah having worked on a news story about violence which is a nice touch.  Shatner fans won't have much to look forward to.  He's not in it much and his role doesn't offer anything interesting or fun.  It's one of those functional roles you can put anyone over 40 in and it won't matter who it is.  I don't think genre fans would find anything surprising in this picture but it does offer up something a little different in the sea of slasher thrillers that had about reached its peak at this point.  I'm surprised they didn't try for some sequels.  The world is a big enough place that there was room for VISITING HOURS: EMERGENCY room to be filmed back to back with VISITING HOURS: TRIAGE.