FGFC: I'M BACK BABY

Haha! That's right, here it is, November 5 marking my glorious return to the ranks of the Film Club Coolies! Yes, I am once again counting myself amongst the ranks of the elite members of the Final Girl Film Club!

I can not sufficiently explain my lack of participation over the past few months. No, not without tales of kidnapping, debauchery and murder best left for stories told around a table full of men and women holding pints of beer in various states of full and emptiness, and lo, I could only reach the tip of the iceberg that is that tale before admitting that I was lying! The truth is that I am merely lazy!

So lazy in fact that I almost missed this one too! I know! It's unbelievable. If Stacie had not posted a reminder, I would have certainly forgotten. In fact, I had three other movies to write about for you, but instead have elected to put those off for the time being and concentrate on November's Film Club selection, Eyes of a Stranger (No. Not the Queensryche song. Though, that would have been pretty badass.).

Please, allow me to summarize...It's Miami, 1981 and there's a guy going around raping and killing ladies. He calls them on the telephone and then does his work. Meanwhile, also in Miami, there's a news reporter who is very...passionate about the case. She has a sister who, after being assaulted and nearly killed, is deaf and blind.

A man who's killin ladies, and two ladies...I don't see how their stories could possibly intersect. In fact, he'd probably have gotten away with it if not for those meddling kids! Wait, wrong story.

See the reporter is very...passionate because of what happened to her sister. And when she sees a man changing clothes in the parking lot of her apartment building, she becomes a tad bit suspicious. In fact, she becomes convinced that it's him. That this neighbor is the killer. No one is willing to believe her though. And by 'no one' I mean her boyfriend.

Suspicion is immediately placed upon the neighbor. You know what that means, right? It can't be him. It's too obvious. There must be some sort of twist or turn. That's where they trick you though! See! It IS him. Totally! And the movie makes no real effort to hide it. There's no misdirection. It's totally the neighbor dude! It's that simple. This is 1981. It's a simpler world. There's no redial. No *69. No caller id. And not all movies have to have a hundred little twists and red herrings.

There's no mystery. Yet, Eyes of a Stranger exudes suspense, it oozes from it's every pore. There's a buildup to each kill that has you on the edge of your seat. You know what's coming and who is doing it. But, it builds, builds...builds to it. It's the when. It's the how. That's the big unknown. I found myself getting nervous watching it more than once.

Tom Savini handled the makeup effects...which explains the couple little pumps of blood coming from the bullet hole at the end of the movie. It was a nice little detail to add in and is worth noting. The movie, overall, is pretty good. It's worth checking out if you're into suspenseful movies about serial killers, which, I'm usually not. I'll be honest. If not for the Film Club, I'll be honest, I never would have watched this. And that would have been my loss. 8 belts bought at the dollar store since the killer seems to leave them as a signature at each murder, except it's 1981 and there aren't any dollar stores you bastards out of 10.