Themes: Haunted By the Past, Serial Killers, Woman In Jeopardy
Main Cast: Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl, William Shatner, Harvey Atkin
Release Year: 1982
Country: CA
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A crazed, women-hating killer (Michael Ironside) rapes and brutalizes journalist Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant). When he discovers that his attack didn't kill Deborah, he comes to the hospital to finish what he started. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Review
A staple of video box cover classics, Visiting Hours is also known as one of the leaders in the horror hospital subgenre that scattered cineplexes in the early '80s. Michael Ironside delivers a chilling performance as a deranged lunatic, tortured by memories of his abusive past and hell-bent on taking it out on journalist Lee Grant, an advocate against domestic violence. What's strange is that though the film is definitely a suspense tale, it also has some clear points to make about how violence is ingrained in society and the role that females play in it. As unusually deep as that might be for a genre film around this time, the movie still manages to deliver some powerful scares (especially Ironside's disturbing first reveal). In fact, he's really the reason to catch the flick, given that the film is still quite at the beginning of his career and only a few years after his explosive breakthrough in Scanners. Additionally, Grant does a fine job at turning the woman-in-peril role on its head, not only because of the obvious casting decision to buck the teenage bimbo craze, but because there's more to the flick than just your simple slasher story and she knows it. William Shatner is a welcome face whenever his character pops up, though he really isn't given much more than a bookend role for the film. Screenwriter Brian Taggert later dumbed down and scribed two lesser known and regarded Poltergeist and Omen sequels, never quite living up to the promise that he showed in this one. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Helen Hughes - Louise Shepherd; Michael J. Reynolds - Porter Halstrom; Debra Kirschenbaum - Connie Wexler; Elizabeth Leigh Milne - Patricia Ellis; Maureen McRae - Elizabeth Hawker; Neil Affleck - Officer; Damir Andrei - Paramedic; Walker Boone - Elevator Policeman; Richard Comar - Emergency Doctor 2; Victor Knight - Hospital Administrator; Katherine Trowell - Journalist 2; Lenore Zann - Lisa; Robbie Robertson - Matthew; Jerome Tiberghien - Grant; Lorena Gale - Nurse 1; Sheena Larkin - Officious Nurse; Danny Silverman - Young Colt; George E. Zeeman - Emergency 2; Steve Michaels - Plaintclothesman 1; Kathleen Fee - Emergency Nurse; Malcolm Nelthorpe - Entrance Security Officer; Dora Dainton - Mrs. Corrigan; Dean Hagopian - Journalist 1; Danielle Schneider - Donna Maloney; Len Watt - Clement Pine
Credit
Michel Proulx - Art Director, Burton Miller - Costume Designer, Delphine White - Costume Designer, Jean-Claude Lord - Director, Jean-Claude Lord - Editor, Lise Thouin - Editor, Jonathan Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Joel Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Inge Klaudi - Makeup, Stephan Dupuis - Makeup Special Effects, René Verzier - Cinematographer, Pierre David - Producer, Claude Heroux - Producer, Victor Solnicki - Producer, Gary Zeller - Special Effects, Don Berry - Special Effects, Linda Singer - Stunts, Brian Taggert - Screenwriter
Lee Grant portrays a very vocal feminist activist, whom Michael Ironside sees on a TV chat show; it is made immediately clear he despises her, and her televised remarks enrage him to the point where he decides to kill her. He breaks into her home and attacks her, though she is left only very injured. Once she is sent to hospital, he follows and begins stalking her again. William Shatner plays her love interest, and Linda Purl portrays a hospital nurse who befriends Grant during her stay. Much of the movie goes back and forth as Ironside stalks both Grant and Purl in several locations. Then during the climax, it's a showdown between the two leads: Grant and Ironside, at the hospital.
This movie was on the UK's Video Nasty list, even though it was the same version that had been cut for a UK Cinema release. However, the uncut version was broadcast by ITV in 1989, which resulted in censure by the Broadcasting Standards Council as this version had not been cleared for video release.
