The Headless Eyes
The Headless Eyes is a 1971 American exploitation horror film written and directed by Kent Bateman.
| The Headless Eyes | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Kent Bateman |
| Produced by | Ron Sullivan (as Henri Pachard)[1] |
| Written by | Kent Bateman |
| Starring |
|
Production company | Laviniaque Films |
| Distributed by | J.E.R. Pictures Cinema Shares International Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
The film depicts an artist named Arthur Malcolm (Bo Brundin) who sneaks into a woman's bedroom and tries to steal the money off her nightstand to pay his rent. Mistaking the thief for a rapist, the woman pushes his eye out with a spoon from her evening tea and knocks him out the second-story window. After being gawked at with his eye dangling from his head and the ultimate loss of his eye, Arthur becomes a serial killer and uses his victims' eyes in his artwork.
Cast
- Bo Brundin as Arthur Malcolm
- Gordon Ramon
- Kelley Swartz
- Mary Jane Early
Production
The film was produced by Ron Sullivan (credited as Henri Pachard), a cinematographer with a background in pornographic films.[1] The film's director, Kent Bateman, is the father of actors Justine and Jason Bateman.[1]
Release
The film was distributed by J.E.R. Pictures, an independent company based in Times Square, New York City, who paired it as a double feature with The Ghastly Ones (1968).[1] It opened in Canandaigua, New York on October 27, 1971 as part of this double feature.[2] Though it received an X rating due to violence, the film was a box-office success.[1]
Reception
Joseph A. Ziemba from Bleeding Skull! gave the film a positive review, writing, "Unkempt and gloomy, yet somehow radiant, the mind-bending Headless Eyes is a touchpoint for every element that makes nonconformist 70s trash-horror cinema so enduring today. As soon as “The End” rolls around, you’ll want to watch it again."[5] On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar gave the film a negative review, calling it "pointless, pretentious, annoying, and no fun at all".[6]
Film scholars Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford write in Sleazoid Express (2002): "With murder scenes choreographed like slow-moving sex assaults, The Headless Eyes is true to the psychosexual underpinnings of blood horror... Ultimately, [it] earns its place in the exploitation pantheon because it's as isolated, weird, and discordant as its main character."[7]
References
- Landis & Clifford 2002, p. 123.
- "The Ghastly Ones/The Headless Eyes advert". The Daily Messenger. Canandaigua, New York. October 26, 1971. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Headless Eyes (1971) - Kent Bateman". AllMovie. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- "The Headless Eyes Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019.
- Ziemba, Joseph. "Headless Eyes (1971)". Bleeding Skull.com. Joseph A. Ziemba. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- Sindelar, Dave. "The Headless Eyes (1971)". Fantastic Movie Musings.com. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- Landis & Clifford 2002, p. 124.
Sources
- Landis, Bill; Clifford, Michelle (2002). Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-743-21583-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)