Terror Eyes (1989)

About

A frustrated advertising executive is confused to receive a job assignment from her boss to write a horror screenplay. Her dreams might provide inspiration, if only she could remember them, but she's given more ideas when she heads off on a camping trip with friends.

This is a pretty obscure straight-to-video horror anthology released during the 1989 Hollywood strike. Judging by the credits, two of the segments, "Perfect Alibi" and "Snake Eyes" were USC student films; the rest was doubtlessly created to pad them into a feature film. The unnamed first segment, which centers on a young couple receiving a mysterious book that chronicles their lives, is a total campfest. "Perfect Alibi" revolves around a thief who needs to pay off his bookie, and it's largely forgettable. "Snake Eyes" finds a chess champion plopped into a dangerous videogame.

There is some genuine talent on display here. Lead actress Vivian Schilling later became a novelist, but she's probably most well-known for writing the English adaptation of the 2009 Czech movie "Toys in the Attic."Daniel Roebuck, who plays multiple roles, went on to have a prolific career as a character actor, playing everything from an ill-fated airplane pilot in Lost to Grandpa Munster. The female protagonist of "Snake Eyes," Harri James, appeared in Die Hard, Alien Nation, and a slew of '90s horror sequels (Watchers II, Predator 2, Maniac Cop 3, Jason Goes to Hell, Pumpkinhead II, Puppet Master 5). Director Stephen Sommers wrote and directed the first two Brendan Fraser Mummy films, as well as Van Helsing and Odd Thomas.

If you're into low-budget '80s horror, there's a lot to admire about "Terror Eyes." It's largely shot-on-film, but "Snake Eyes," unfortunately, was shot on video -- though that's not really a detraction , since it's easily the most cinematic sequence of the movie.

Human-made No record of this work says a model made it. What this means.

Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

Licence or status

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Credit

AIP

Language

English

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