Eyes of a Stranger (1981)

[5]

Lauren Tewes (The Love Boat) stars as a TV journalist who takes it upon herself to investigate a series of rapes and murders when she suspects the culprit may live in her vicinity. Eyes of a Stranger is a fairly run-of-the-mill thriller/horror movie, but it’s competently executed by director Ken Wiederhorn, whose Shock Waves is a drive-in horror flick for which I have a soft spot. (Characters in this movie are watching Shock Waves on TV in a few scenes).

As a horror film, there aren’t many visceral thrills. The opening sequence is the best in that regard, highlighting a severed head in a fish tank. Tewes has a tacked-on romantic subplot that goes nowhere and John DiSanti isn’t very memorable as the villain, but Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hudsucker Proxy, The Hateful Eight) makes the most of her feature film debut. She plays Tewes’ little sister, a blind, deaf, mute who defends herself quite admirably in the movie’s climactic showdown.