Eyes of the Beholder

(Lawrence L. Simeone, USA, 1992)

Eyes of the Beholder is among the most enjoyable pieces of schlock-horror to be found on video. It is a demented, low budget film in the style of Italian exploitation movies, with a breathless naïveté that is all too rare in these days of hip, self-conscious irony.

Four people gather for a dinner party while a ranting, hallucinating killer (looney Lenny Van Dohlen from Twin Peaks) circles the house. Lenny is a patient seeking revenge on the doctor (Matt McCoy) who turned him into an experimental guinea pig.

Inside, the threatened bunch po-facedly discuss the ethics of medical science with lines like: "I'm tired of poking around in the dark playing God". Kylie Travis plays a blond Aussie bimbo who feels compelled to bare her breasts even when Lenny is waving a gun in her face.

The whole bloody, melodramatic extravaganza – written, directed and edited by Lawrence L. Simeone, a B meister whose every film deserves a long review – ends with McCoy reflecting profoundly on "the fate of every man's destiny".

MORE Simeone: Blindfold: Acts of Obsession

© Adrian Martin November 1993