Customer Reviews

Eye of the Killer [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

EYE OF THE KILLER is one of those unexpected surprises you get when you see a movie on DVD you haven't heard of before. Kiefer Sutherland plays a cop who is heavy on booze and genuinely disinterested in his life. His ex-wife is sleeping with his boss, and he's become cynical about law enforcement. While buying a bottle of whiskey, a young kid comes in and snatches the booze, leading Kiefer on a footchase, and ultimately Kiefer falls through an opening in an abandoned warehouse and takes a pretty nasty fall. Later, the kid who stole the bottle is brutally murdered. It seems also that the fall may have awakened some kind of psychic ability in Sutherland, who can see the crimes happening, but not the killer, only the victim. Whose eyes is Kiefer looking through?
Sutherland, who is finally achieving just critical acclaim in his hit TV series 24, is very good in this movie. Henry Czerny as the psychic Harvey does well; Gary Hudson as Kiefer's boss is appropriately egocentric and a pain the (...); and Polly Walker as Vera, the psychic, does well. The movie maintains a tense pace and moody atmosphere, and there is an interesting twist at the end I didn't see coming. Also, I loved the music over the end credits---eerie and haunting.
A very solid film worth seeing.

There isn't much to say about it except that it is all around great. Kiefer Sutherland plays a hard cop who has to begin to believe in the paranormal in order to solve a mystery. The acting is cheesey, as are the special effects, but for some reason this is one of my favorite movies. Anyone who likes any of the following should check it out: ghost stories, the x-files/the outer limits, psychic stories, kiefer sutherland.

Now, I have always liked Kiefer Sutherland, but I never sought out his movies. I picked this one up simply because it stuck my fancy. Kiefer Sutherland plays a cop who develops the ability to see the future by touching things. Kind of like Johnny Smith on Stephen King's The Dead Zone. After watching it, I now feel the need to see every movie he's ever made. What a great film! His performance in it was excellent, the plot was suspenseful, what more do you need for a great movie? Check this movie out, it's definitely worth it.

Keifer Sutherland continues to grow as an actor, and the sky is the limit. The way he portrayed his character was Oscar material in my book. He has a great command of emotion and he puts everything he has into his character. The emotion on his face as he felt the pain of the murdered victims was one of, if not "the" best performance I have seen in recent memory. I just wonder why this terrific movie never got the attention it deserved. Maybe word of mouth will do it....Buy it..I did.

And Keifer, if your reading this you should really look for movies scripts that will play on your talent as a leading man....You have a huge female following, and as a woman, I would love to see you in more romantic settings....You have that "look" the fire in your eyes that every woman secretly craves. Don't ever stop acting, even though I know you have interests in directing...half the world would miss it very much.

A Fan

"Eye of the Killer" is an excellent small movie. Kiefer Sutherland is police detective Mickey Hayden in a self-destructive mode since the breakup of his marriage. He chases an albino wino who runs out of a convenience store with his Jack Daniels into a vacant warehouse. Hayden falls through a second-story floor and hits his head which starts him receiving psychic visions of the victims through the eyes of the killer. He meets a parapsychologist, Dr. Vera Swann, played by Polly Walker. Romantic sparks eventually fly between the two, allowing Hayden to start to get over his divorce. He lost his wife to police detective John Hatter played by Gary Hudson who seems to meddle in the investigation, eventually pointing toward his guilt. Henry Czerny who was the thief opposite Harrison Ford in "Clear & Present Danger" and has done "Pink Panther" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" plays Harvey, a psychic that attaches himself to Mickey Hayden in a gay bar. Hayden frequents the gay bar because it's a place for a straight guy to be alone. With his partner Ray Coombs played by Ronn Sarosiak, they seek to find the serial killer supposedly responsible for a string of murders. All of the murders eventually are solved and improbably point at the owner of a newspaper who was trying to capitalize on the Jabberwocky serial case to heighten the value of her newspaper so it could be profitably sold. Loren Petersen plays the hapless Alice who we see fall down the stairs several times and get her skull smashed. This little drama that was originally an HBO movie works pretty well as a nouveau film noir. Enjoy!

It's obvious that my review differs from the majority, but I emphatically stand by my opinion: this movie was really, really, really lousy.

Keifer Sutherland (whom I generally like a lot...he is why I watched this turkey in the first place) portrays a stone alcoholic, chain-smoking, gravel-voiced, burned out bum of a cop who guzzles gallons of booze and staggers from scene to scene like one of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead. This is his worst performance (that I have ever witnessed) and to make matters even more grim, the entire plot is a confusing, poorly-directed mess. I think that the majority of Keifer's boozing is due to his embarrassment over appearing in this truly wretched movie.

If you insist on viewing this bomb, you will hear the word "Jabberwocky" at least 10,000 times (and come to hate it with a white-hot intensity)....you will see Keifer Sutherland's character drink countless gallons of whiskey (often straight from the quart bottle at his desk in the police station) and smoke at least 9,500 cigarettes (this movie could be used as aversion therapy by A.A. or the American Lung Association)....you will see ghosts, apparitions, and silly psychic flashbacks that are about as convincing and relevant as those in "Sabrina the Teenage Witch". At one point, a character wants to convey the name of the villain to Kiefer in a "psychic vision", so rather than just say the name (which would be way too easy), he lures the villain to appear in a mirror ("through the looking glass")....silly.

The basic premise of this movie resembles the TV series "Medium", in which a psychic can sense details about a crime by touching objects associated with the crime....but the TV show is vastly superior in every respect: acting, plot, direction, and characterization. Also, the only psychic visions that a drunk of this magnitude is likely to see involve elephants....pink ones. This movie would not qualify as a tolerable made-for-TV drama...and that is very, very sad.

There are numerous allusions to "Alice in Wonderland" (the original name of this bomb was "After Alice"): Kiefer starts having his "psychic visions" after falling through a hole, a character is named "Hatter", etc. etc. I assure you that none of this cuteness will add to your viewing pleasure in any way.

So, you can listen to the other reviewers and waste your time and money, or listen to the warning I am offering loud and clear: there is a reason that this movie was never released in theaters...and God knows, it shouldn't be released in your home either. Avoid it....you really don't need to hear the word "Jabberwocky" 10,000 times....do you ????

Great movie, full of twists and turns, deep charcters, will keep you on the edge, the DVD quailty is also great.

I ran across this movie rather by accident and decided to give it a try, so my expectations were not particularly high. It turned out to be an enjoyable film, and I recommend it.

Yes, I figured out who the killer was before the big reveal. Yes, this movie had a lot of cliches, and some of the camera work was dodgy. But I still liked it, and here's why. The characters - the ones you are supposed to care about - were well done. Particularly, the Kiefer Sutherland character, Mickey, and the Robert Czerny character, Harvey, were well worth watching. The droll dialogue was really great, and the chemistry between these two characters was terrific. I could have done without the doctor character, and Ray was more of a sidekick than a partner, but then you get gems like the tranny hooker, who in any other movie would have been a completely throwaway character. I've gotten used to Sutherland on "24," and I was waiting for the shouting interrogation scene, but the laid back charm of this troubled, constantly smoking, constantly drinking character was a nice surprise.

Case in point: In one of my favorite scenes, Mickey tries to get confidential information from a lawyer. After being politely rebuffed, he says, "Well, thank you, it's been a pleasure," and gets up to leave. The doctor character just looks at him, like, That's it?! Given that this movie was made 2 years before "24," and imagining what Jack Bauer's reaction would have been, I was highly amused.

If you keep in mind that this is a low budget, direct to DVD film, it's very enjoyable and even kind of fun.

"Eye of the Killer" is one of those movies that falls in the category between bad and unwatchable: it's so bad, it's hugely entertaining. Kiefer Sutherland ought to be blacked out for the duration of the movie based on how much he drinks on screen, and the word "Jabberwocky" is said dozens of times by dozens of people. The plot is somehow hackneyed and confusing at the same time, the characters are totally unbelievable - it's just really, really, bad.

That being said, if you're looking for a good drinking game: every time Kiefer drinks or someone says the word "jabberwocky"...

This is a medium whodunit with a twist and then a double twist..but it is NOT that the lead character can see the future through grasping objects, but rather that he can see the events that occurred in the past, but only through the eyes of the user/possessor of that object, which usually happens to be the victim..but naturally the victim never looks completely at the killer's face until...but I won't spoil it...

A good X-Files episode is more satisfying..in fact a good Dead Zone episode is more satisfying..but if it's on cable and you happen to have a couple of hours to kill... go for it.