31 Years, 31 Screams: Visiting Hours

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 10.18.2007

There is no known cure...for MURDER!



Visiting Hours (1982)
Director: Jean-Claude Lord
Writer: Brian Taggert
Starring:Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl and William Shatner
MPAA: [R]
Runtime: 105m.

The late film critic Gene Siskel once famously devoted an entire show to trashing slasher movies. He and co-host Roger Ebert derided the sub-genre as anti-feminist and even anti-woman because the psychos invariably have mother issues and stalk only young women at the end of the film. With a few major exceptions, I have always disagreed with him. This would be one of those exceptions.

The reason Siskel was wrong, and I think demonstrably so, is that the psycho in question is usually presented as an anomaly, someone who inspires moral outrage or disgust. Siskel claimed that the audience was often cheering for the killer, but I think he never gave us credit for being savvy filmgoers. Obviously, no one wants to see harm come to women in real life, but you can't have a rollercoaster ride without ups and downs. Likewise, you can't have a scary movie without someone being in danger.

However, Visiting Hours is one of those films, along with I Spit on Your Grave, that seems to revel in presenting its lead character as a shrill victim, not a resourceful survivor (although nowhere nearly as bad as the latter film). In fact, our resident psycho Colt Hawker (Ironside) is allowed more depth of character. Like Curt Duncan in When a Stranger Calls, Colt is presented as a sadistic psychopath, but one with sympathetic reasons for hating women.

As we open, tough gal reporter Deborah Ballin (Grant) is pressing a guest on a local case involving a woman who was battered by her husband. Ballin, a renowned feminist, demands to know why her guest prosecuted the wife so harshly for defending herself.

Because she was so unprofessional, her boss/boyfriend/station manager Gary Baylor (Shatner) won't allow the interview to air. One man does see the interview, though. Yep, you guessed it. Our woman-hating psychopath Colt Hawker was watching on closed-circuit, and he doesn't care for her feminist views at all.

Deborah goes home to cool off after the interview, and that's where Colt attacks. She narrowly escapes with some severe stab wounds, but Colt runs away before the police arrive.

Deborah is taken to the local hospital, which is, of course, major news in itself because she's a controversial news anchor. It's not long before Colt finds out that his attempt on her life was unsuccessful and finding out where she was taken is almost as simple.

Colt whiles away the time by mutilating a slutty woman who comes up to his apartment, writing diatribes against blacks and Jews, and going to see his disfigured father (he was scalded by his own wife while trying to rape her, thus giving Colt his reasons for hating women). Seinfeld fanatics will get a kick out of finally getting one of the more obscure pop-culture references in that show's history in Hawker's unhinged landlady.

Dissatisfied with his previous attempt on Ballin's life, Colt dresses up as a floral delivery boy and sneaks in to finish the job. Problem: the staff needed Deborah's room for its respirator so they moved her. Colt doesn't discriminate, offing some poor woman by slitting her oxygen hose and watching her suffocate.

This tips off the hospital that he's around, so the hospital turns into a circus with all the security. Colt is forced to turn to Plan B, attacking and stabbing Ballin's pretty nurse friend Sheila (Purl) in her home.

When the slutty girl that Colt beat up returns to his apartment and trashes it, she finds some of the pictures he's been taking and goes to the hospital to turn the evidence over to the police. That leads the police to Colt's apartment, but he's not there. You see, he went and smashed a bottle with his arm and got glass shards stuck in it. In fact, they had to take him away in the ambulance…to the hospital.

Of course, we get a cat-and-mouse game as Colt stalks Deborah through the basement of the hospital, but she's a game feminist willing to defend herself with violence if necessary.

I guess since I had a rip-off of Halloween yesterday, it's only appropriate that I have a rip-off of Halloween II today. Just as with a Xerox, though, the copy is always inferior to the original.

Visiting Hours is a fine film from a technical standpoint. Director Jean-Claude Lord does a masterful job of building suspense, especially in the scene where Linda Purl goes home to check on her child. The performances are just fine, even from Shatner! The big problem, though, comes in the form of the screenplay by Brian Taggert. Colt comes across less Michael Myers than Travis Bickle. The fact that we spend so much time with him makes him somewhat sympathetic in spite of his clearly sadistic actions; this is especially true when you consider there's implied molestation from Colt's father.

I'm sure some people may prefer this "shades of gray" approach to writing characters, and I would normally agree in any other genre, but this is horror, where you expect "good vs. evil." I didn't expect (or need) an explanation as to why Michael Myers killed people. In fact, the more explanation I got, the less scary he became.

The 411: From a technical standpoint, Visiting Hours is an excellent horror film. It touches all the bases of the slasher genre and does them all well. However, the film is so sadistic, it'll make you feel the need for a shower afterwards. Some people will love the characterizations, some people will hate the apologetic portrayal of the psycho. B-