Visiting Hours (1982)

A hospital provides the unlikely setting for this tale of maniacal murder. A hospitalized news reporter recovering from an assault is stalked by her would-be killer who is intent on finishing the job of doing her in.System Requirements:Running Time: 101 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 013131401899 Manufacturer No: DV14018 Product Description

Just ask my Grandpa at the nursing home, I hate Visiting Hours...

What a dud this was, in fact the title of my review is the most tastless thing you'll find involved with this "slasher" film from 1981. For anybody even mildly interested in the usual trappings of the genre (i.e. nudity and gore), I'd recommend clicking the back button now and typing "The Burning" in the search bar at the top of the screen (thank me later). The reason I put slasher in quotes above is because that's what it refers to itself on the back of the DVD, but actually it's more of a mediocre thriller that I could see my parents giving a watch (and they don't like horror so... that's not a good thing!). The story follows a pychopath on the hunt for an outspoken female journalist whose stance on self-defense against abusive husbands links to his past and enrages him. She is also strongly against violence which, of course, will be put to the test when faced with the killer in the film's finale. The movie gets 2 stars on the merits of being well made and acted, and featuring a few nice moments of tension (particularly the first assault from the killer), but it's still a bland piece of cinema that takes itself far too serious and feels like a solid made for TV movie. Even Michael Ironside as the protagonist of the film is wasted here... menacing at times, of course that's only when he's not falling down, having his apartment vandalized by former rape victims, or losing his knife?!?! Beyond the cool cover on the DVD, I was checking this out due to it being on the infamous "Video Nasties" list of banned films in the UK at one time... why it made the list I'll never understand? Literally 3 deaths occur on screen, none of them bloody or graphic in any way, shape, or form. Visiting Hours is highly passable viewing, delivering nothing noteworthy for genre fans... William Shatner does appear though! August 9, 2008

A slasher classic all by itself.

The Film: Visiting Hours
Year Made: 1981

Overview: A man who is still traumatized by events that transpired from his childhood of his abusive dad against his mother, goes on a killing spree. His target is a news anchore woman who speaks out against violence and triggers the killers' inner rage. The hospital should be a place of safety and healing, but visiting hours is about to begin!

The Package: 3 Stars. The outside of the DVD holder has a eerie picture of the hospital with a skull in the windows. The inside of the case does not have any kind of inlay which is disappointing though. The disc itself has graphics of doctors faces on it wearing masks, which although cool, it would have been more creepy to have the killer himself wearing a doctor mask. The disc stays in place in the holder very nice and is easy to pop out of the tray also. There are TV trailers and radio spots on the extras as well as some movie previews for other films which I always like to watch. Overall a good package but could have been better and should have come with closed captioning which is missed greatly.

Spook Meter: 4 Stars. Visiting hours is a creepy film. The killer hardly talks at all, yet is shown clearly throughout the film. Brilliant camera work as the killer is walking as well as all the pictures on the walls of his apartment where he keeps photographs of his victims he has killed, really bring the overall creepiness' to life as you watch this. I loved the fact that most of the action takes place in a hospital setting which works very well here. The flashbacks of the killers dad being abusive to his mother and seeing the conflicting hatred he has for his dad and also for his mother for what she did to his dad is brilliant. That is made clearer as he kills women and men as things progress. Michael Ironside played the part of the killer to perfection and he truly fit the roll well in his look as well as acting. William Shater I thought was one character that did not fit well in this film. William Shatner is a superb actor, but he just didn't seem right for this.

Gore/Violence Meter: 5 Stars. In the gore department, I would rate this about average for a slasher film, it's got some blood but it's not excessive at all. Violence is why I drove the meter way high. The visual effect and the slow prolonged death scenes when someone is killed as well as the killer taking pictures while the victim is dying is very intense. The visual/brutal way it's all acted out and captured will make you cringe and feel each and every death scene. Very violent!

Profanity Meter: 5 Strikes. Sadly, this was a huge letdown. Why all the profanity, I really feel it spoils any film and this one had a lot of language throughout. I hope a closed captioned version comes out so at least my editer will work!

Sexual Meter: 2 Strikes. There is not much as far as offensive scenes. There is one scene while the killer has a woman over at his place and begins to get a bit rough with her and pulls her hair. Nothing much is shown overall though and there is no nudity at all, although the woman does take off her jeans and is standing in her panties at one point. One other scene, the killer is shown reaching down with his hand under a woman's shirt, although suggestive, nothing is shown and no nudity here either. I'll bump up the sexual meter to two stars for these scenes but overall this was non offensive in this area for most viewers.

Final Thoughts: Visiting hours is very well done and what I consider to be a highly underrated lost gem in the slasher film genre. When most people think of horror/slasher films, they think of the main ones like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street. Visiting hours IS that good and even though it stands as a somewhat unrecognized film in the classic time of the early 80s, any true horror slasher fan will love this brutal uniqueness of Visiting Hours. The one single let down of it was all language, if not for the language, I'll stand on my 5 star rating as a horror slasher film and rank it right up their in my list of all time favorite horror films.
May 16, 2008

"He's making himself a death mask" -Gary

By way of preface, I should point out that many people curiously view "Halloween II" as an average or even below average horror movie. Alas, I am not one of those people. I thought "Halloween II" was terrific and it picked up at the most logical place to have the setting for the sequel, the hospital. Despite what many people maintain, "Halloween II" was a very successful film and it is one of the greatest horror movies of all-time. So, the hospital setting must be a great place to have a slasher flick, right? Well, after viewing "Visiting Hours", I'm not so sure that is the case.

To their credit, the creators of "Visiting Hours" realized the effectiveness of "Halloween II" and tried to rip it off, at least on some levels, although it is original enough to survive on its own credibility I believe. In "Visiting Hours", an insane killer, played well by Michael Ironside, attacks a controversial talk show host played quite well by Lee Grant ("Damien: Omen II"). However, Grant's character, Debra, survives the attack and is taken to the hospital. However, is she safe in the hospital from this crazed killer? Watch "Visiting Hours" to find out! Expect a little bit of cat and mouse in this one, but it will undoubtedly test your patience at times.

"Visiting Hours" is definitely a run of the mill slasher flick without much more, but it does an effective job at leaving the audience in the dark about the killer's motives. This creates some suspense and causes tension in the audience because the audience does not know or understand what is driving the killer, at least until the end of the movie and even then the motive behind the killer is somewhat obscure.

Some scenes in "Visiting Hours" will leave the viewer scratching his/her head, and some scenes will leave the viewer wishing he or she had taken a nap instead. However, I think there is enough to keep the slasher movie lover satisfied for the most part, although "Visiting Hours" is an inconsistent ride to say the least.

That being said, Michael Ironside does a pretty good job as the psycho killer in this movie. Strangely enough, the creators of the flick did not feel the need to conceal the identity of the killer, but his motives and overall strangeness about him will keep the audience a little on edge. In my opinion, the more mystery one can assign to a killer, the better as this is almost always a good thing for a horror movie because it creates an eerie feeling for the audience. I would say that "Visiting Hours" did a decent job in this respect, but could have done more.

The kills in "Visiting Hours" are not that good as there is a little bit of blood, but no gore. There is a lack of atmosphere for most of the movie, and there are some scenes in this movie that are entirely unnecessary which causes the viewer to become bored and lose interest. These flaws definitely hurt the "Visiting Hours" as a horror movie. What music this movie did use to establish mood and theme was done sparingly and at least somewhat effectively. Perhaps the strongest assets that "Visiting Hours" has to offer are its cast (Lee Grant, William Shatner, Michael Ironside) which is surprisingly strong for a slasher flick and the movie's blatant simplicity. Indeed, the acting was good in this flick and the director did not try to do too much with the script.

While watching "Visiting Hours", I really wanted to like it, and I struggled with my feelings about this movie. After sleeping on it, I turned into Santa Claus the next morning and realized that I did not really like it or dislike it, which is actually kind of strange for me. There was some entertaining scenes among many boring scenes. Everything seemed to cancel itself out. There are some "jump out of your seat" scares, and some unexpected events that occur. Overall, "Visiting Hours" is a flawed yet somewhat effective slasher flick that attempts to use the hospital setting a la "Halloween II".

While "Visiting Hours" is nothing special and completely failed to achieve anything close to the level of horror that "Halloween II" was able to produce, you may enjoy "Visiting Hours" if you are in the mood for a slasher flick with a hospital setting, but do not expect too much or you will come away disappointed. January 18, 2008

"HALLOWEEN II" KNOCKOFF

In the 80's, there were numerous Halloween copycats. There was Prom Night, Terror Train, Friday the 13th, etc. However, Visiting Hours might be the only Halloween II copycat. It's set in a hospital, just like Halloween II, and it was released just one year later. However, those aren't the only similarities. The killer, played by Michael Ironside, stalking the hospital corridors searching for his surviving victim, just like in Halloween II.
I know it sounds like I'm writing Visiting Hours off as just a rip-off, but it's not just that. It has plenty of jump-out-of-your-seat moments, Michael Ironside makes for one creepy victim, and the finale is good slasher fun.
If you're looking for an 80's psycho-thriller, you could do worse than Visiting Hours. July 9, 2007

One of the best 80's slashers you'll find

Classic 80's horror... if you like films like April Fool's Day, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II and Terror Train, this DVD should be sitting right next to all of them in your entertainment center. There are a few well-crafted scares, the plot is interesting, and the "entertaining" performances by Lee Grant and William Shatner are worth the low sticker price alone. July 11, 2006

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