Eyes of the Beholder (1992) User Reviews

Please blow up that Mansion of Boredom

[Vomitron_G · 3/10 · 9 February 2009]

I stumbled upon this one in some store where people drop off stuff they don't want anymore (second-hand goodies, that is). A VHS tape for a measly 50 cents. Charles Napier and Joanna Pacula had me saying "Why not?". Watched it with a friend. It was dull and irritating, so the only thing that made it worthwhile was us making stupid comments while watching it (I'll spare you guys the details).

In short: Do yourselves a favor and never watch this, even if you're a fan of Pacula and/or Charles Napier. Pacula has a lot of screen time, but completely nothing to do. She has a shower-scene, but the viewer will find himself staring at the naked body of a stand-in model. Charles Napier plays a detective who has even less to do. He's hardly in the movie.

It's just about two couples inside a mansion (one guy is a doctor who experimented on one of his mental patients), doing too much talking, whining and weeping. The insane escaped mental patient, who is stalking the house, is a completely pathetic character with a retarded hair-do and silly-looking 'gympies' on his feet. He only starts acting up in the final act of the film. The composer must have thought he was writing a score for the next BASIC INSTINCT or something. Hearing his music in this snooze-fest made it an even dumber experience.

The climax, as to be expected, was equally pathetic (out the mansion, into the rainstorm, onto some wooden bridge). However, two wonderful bonuses to this movie come in the form of that blond chick, exposing and caressing her nice breasts due to a traumatizing experience caused by sexual molestation during her early teens. Yes, you can go "WTF?!?!" for this one.

The sad part is, that EYES OF THE BEHOLDER isn't even that badly made on a technical level. I'll let it earn some points for that (and the blond chick, of course). But it still remains a waste of time, mainly.

Respect to rsoonsa from California for having cooked up that one (and only, so far) much more decent user-comment than mine. I just couldn't put any more effort into it.

Incongruity Reigns Supreme Here.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 23 September 2004]

Ofttimes a silly bit of business is retained in a film when those responsible describe it as "fitting the plot." This preposterous work contains very little that can be manifest as fitting its plot, since the latter makes scant sense from its beginning to its finish. An opening scene establishes the tenor for the piece, as it occurs in a state institution for the insane wherein a viewer must question the rationale of displaying a hallway teeming with obviously mad inmates gamboling about freely and unsupervised, hardly acceptable procedure anywhere. A male patient, Janice (Lenny Von Dohlen), has just overpowered, bound, gagged, and drugged his apparently tongue-tied physician, Dr. Frank Carlyle (Matt McCoy), his motivation being Carlyle's aborted procedure of brain surgery upon Janice to reverse his insanity, a failure that additionally caused substantial loss of use to the latter's left hand. Janice has managed to learn where the doctor resides and, after escaping from the institution by wearing Carlyle's lab coat and I.D., walking past obviously insensate hospital personnel, he steals the surgeon's auto and drives to Carlyle's house near Malibu Beach during a savage rainstorm that is raking Southern California's coast. Meanwhile, the beleaguered surgeon and his spouse Diana (Joanna Pacula) are hosting Jack (George Lazenby) and his girl friend Holly (Kylie Travis), but due to the storm the quartet decides to remain at the Carlyle home in lieu of going to a restaurant, thereby setting the stage for Janice's use of them as victims of his sociopathic behaviour. Thus begins the heart of this feeble essay in the cinematic Genre of Paranoia, with hapless victims being held hostage to the rantings of a vicious killer who has been allowed by director/scriptor Lawrence Simeone to obtain a revolver. Direction is weak, critical shortcomings apparent with setups and blocking, while the players are seldom comfortable in their roles. The screenplay, as presented, has an incongruous narrative structure, displaying flagrant continuity flaws that deprive cast members of a framework within which they may be able to effectively do their work. Von Dohlen garners acting honors, such as they are, having turned his part into something playable despite its shoddy dialogue. Pacula walks through her role, while McCoy seldom alters his expression, perhaps understandable as his lines are the film's worst, and Travis seems to be acting in another, not necessarily better, movie. A dramatic score from Greg Turner soon becomes the most absorbing portion of the affair, although it frequently outpaces the ostensible aims of the scenario. Experimentation by cinematographer Harris Done begins during the opening shots featuring employment of a red filter, and there is a good deal of creative effort to be found in his use of lighting that, along with Turner's scoring, give one something to focus upon in lieu of the foolish story. Better editing and post-production sound efforts would have helped matters, but unfortunately these lacks are in line with generally inferior production perpetrated throughout. Those viewers game enough to remain until the end will examine a ridiculous climax, one that beggars any connection with good sense that may have preceded it.

This movie is memorable!

[paolamanzoni · 8/10 · 30 November 2017]

One of my favourite film is Eyes of the Beholder. I like this film because since I watched it, this movie has been on my mind. So it's memorable! My favourite character is Janice Bickle. He is played by Lenny Von Dohlen. In this film Lenny is ruthless and violent, but magnificent and attractive as always. Like every Thriller the suspense is essential and this movie has a lot of suspense. I don't want to tell a spoiler, so I choose another scene. When 2 couples know that there is danger, they close themselves in their house. But Janice is there! He spies on them! This is suspense! In my opinion the message of this movie is only one: Danger lurks! I know, this film is violent and tough, but is also breathtaking and intriguing. And the final scene, for me, is heart-rending and poignant.