Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)

I saw Eyes of Laura Mars a few years ago and just watched it again very recently. I remembered it as being fantastic but upon watching it again I was a little disappointed. It's a solid film, by no means bad, it's just nothing all that special.

For the past 3 years or so I've been totally hooked on giallo's and this film plays in a lot of ways like an homage to those Italian thrillers. Touches here and there remind you of Dario Argento (obsessive mirror imagery, Laura's visions etc.), Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino and Mario Bava, such as the model settings and murder scenarios. While this film scores heavy on style (and music, though I find this soundtrack a bit hokey, but generally OK) it just lacks the magic that the best giallo's seem to have. The plot, while intriguing enough, is not nearly played out to it's full potential. There are gripping scenes here to be sure, but the film drags quite a bit and nothing virtually happens for a long period of time.

For seasoned giallo fans, we know the killer is most definitely gonna be the most unlikely one, and for a lack of suspects, I didn't find it hard to figure out who was guilty, but there's pretty much no logic to support it (but that's a giallo trademark, a pro rather than a con actually). For me, the problem is that this film doesn't have the same trashy feel and atmosphere as the best Italian thrillers it seems to be imitating. In a lot of ways I like this film, certain scenes are truly gripping but there's simply something lacking. Being a huge fan of John Carpenter, I can't help but think what he could have done had he directed this. He came up with the story and shares the credits as the writer of the screenplay and what's more, he loves the Italian giallo films as well. His own homage to the genre; Someone's Watching Me, the little known TV film was terrific and you could see that he definitely had the feel for the genre and could easily translate it to American settings. I don't feel that Kershner, as good a director as he is, has the same love for the genre as Carpenter.

I recommend watching it, it scores on a number of levels.