I remember seeing this playing at a number of cheapy schlock houses in the early '80s and thinking the premise had to be a bore. After finally getting around to streaming this 30 years later, I find I'm right, and that makes me sad.
Michael Ironside lends the only bit of variety to this otherwise by-the-body-count slasher. It's not completely abysmal since there are scenes early on in the picture that evoke genuine suspense. The problem is that none of the characters except the villain come off as plausible or interesting.
I usually like Lee Grant but I found her performance here to be so wooden, strident, and annoying that I was actually hoping for Ironside to finish her off in the end. And as interesting as Ironside's character is he is given little to work with in terms of back story and NOTHING in terms of dialog (are all psychos mute or illiterate....apparently).
Linda Purl is out of her league on film (as usual) and Bill Shatner is just there, as pretty much usual --- this is way before they were allowing him to have a personality....too bad. Visiting Hours could use a big dose of just that.
To cap the misery off, this film runs about 30 minutes longer than it should. Yes, it is similar in that regard to Halloween II, which I also believe is a massive misfire and no way in the same category as its precursor. It's a template for a badly-made Canadian cheapy...doesn't even merit as a time-waster, in my book.
Michael Ironside lends the only bit of variety to this otherwise by-the-body-count slasher. It's not completely abysmal since there are scenes early on in the picture that evoke genuine suspense. The problem is that none of the characters except the villain come off as plausible or interesting.
I usually like Lee Grant but I found her performance here to be so wooden, strident, and annoying that I was actually hoping for Ironside to finish her off in the end. And as interesting as Ironside's character is he is given little to work with in terms of back story and NOTHING in terms of dialog (are all psychos mute or illiterate....apparently).
Linda Purl is out of her league on film (as usual) and Bill Shatner is just there, as pretty much usual --- this is way before they were allowing him to have a personality....too bad. Visiting Hours could use a big dose of just that.
To cap the misery off, this film runs about 30 minutes longer than it should. Yes, it is similar in that regard to Halloween II, which I also believe is a massive misfire and no way in the same category as its precursor. It's a template for a badly-made Canadian cheapy...doesn't even merit as a time-waster, in my book.