He Knows You're Alone (1980)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

i must have seen a different film!!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Solidly made, if unoriginal, little slasher film about a bride-to-be having herself and her wedding party stalked by a deranged killer. As her friends and family are knocked off one-by-one, she's helped by a renegade cop who's own bride was murdered by the same killer. There's not a lot of gore and it's not all that scary, but you do get to see the film debut of Tom Hanks as a psychology student who has a scene where he tells the group about why people like to be scared at the movies. Overall, "He knows You're Alone" is completely unoriginal, but it's not as bad as you'd expect.

The producers of "Squirm" went on to make this decent slasher, which ended up being MGMs' sole contribution to the slasher film cycle of the 70s and 80s. It's fairly imitative, with "Halloween" being an obvious inspiration - all the way down to a similar main theme. But director Armand Mastroianni gives it a few nice touches and good moments. The presence of engaging actors (including a couple of familiar faces) helps a great deal. With the able assistance of editor George T. Norris, Mastroianni actually keeps this story moving along quite well.A serial killer (Tom Rolfing) who targets brides-to-be sets his sights on Amy Jensen (played by the very pretty Caitlin O'Heaney). Amy is having her doubts about getting married, especially as she can't erase her feelings for her goofy, annoying, but lovable ex-boyfriend Marvin ("Squirm" hero Don Scardino). Unfortunately, nobody will believe Amy that this stranger is following her. Meanwhile, a somewhat unhinged detective, Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt) who lost his bride to the killer realizes that the maniac is once again on the loose, and is hellbent on catching him."He Knows You're Alone" admittedly gets off to a great start. Its opening is better than most other things in the movie, as we learn that what we're seeing is actually a movie within the movie. Mastroianni is able to generate some enjoyable suspense, although fans of this genre may very well bemoan the de-emphasis on gore (one very unconvincing decapitated head notwithstanding). The killer does get a back story, but like the psycho in "Final Exam", he's kind of lacking in the personality department (maybe that's why he got dumped in the first place?). While the movie isn't 100% predictable, the ending falls short of really being satisfying.What has given "He Knows You're Alone" some stature is the fact that it was future superstar Tom Hanks's film debut, as he plays a psychology major. He doesn't show up until almost an hour into the story, and has only one big scene as he muses on the idea of fear and why people enjoy the feeling of being scared. From day one, he displayed that likability and charisma that has served him well for over 30 years. Also appearing are Patsy Pease, James Rebhorn, Dana Barron, Joseph Leon, Paul Gleason, Russell Todd, and Steve James.This may not appeal to all fans of the genre but it's worth a look for completions' sake.Seven out of 10.

'He Knows You're Alone' is one of the movies that I love to watch on Friday nights. The film is creepy, stylish and a genuine homage to John Carpenter's 1978 horror-classic Halloween. The film is heavy on atmosphere but less on gore. The killer here has a body of the Tall Man from 'Phantasm', and you may also mistake him for Michael Myers from a distance. The film is known for its ending, where it ensures the viewers that the killings won't stop and 'women' play a vital role in the making of a serial killer.The film begins with Amy (Caitlin O'Heaney) bidding goodbye to her boyfriend Phil (James Carroll). Amy is planning for a good time with her mates and we are soon introduced to a bunch of irresponsible, alcoholic and fun-loving girls, who are all set to enjoy life to its fullest. It looks Amy has now changed her mind about Phil and is now planning to wed Marvin (Don Scardino) instead. Marvin works at a local mortuary. Amy begins to suspect that someone is stalking her. The stalker follows Amy relentlessly and it seems that the stalker had a bad past. The viewers come to know that our stalker had killed the girl he ever loved, because she was planning to ditch him and marry someone else. And now, the killer is stalking every bride-to-be and Amy is his next target. How Amy, Marvin and a dare devil detective decide to face the vengeful stalker forms rest of the story.Armand Mastroianni has directed the movie with a nice approach. The cinematography is great and some of the locations are fairly creepy. I mean it seems that the killer may jump out of nowhere. This stalker may look like Michael Myers but has his own attributes. He IS where you NEVER expect him to be! The acting is good and nudity is almost missing. The lovers of gore and nudity may be disappointed a bit, but I am sure they'll enjoy the story. One of the assault sequences has also been copied in an Indian C-grader 'Khooni Mahal', directed by Mohan Bhakri. The tale has been well-played by the actors as they hold the script tightly and give slick performances. This film is an all-in-all entertainment and a perfect treat for the die hard fans of the slasher genre. This surely deserves an equally engaging sequel.

There is not much to say about this 'slasher flick', and there is not much to get exited about either... the only thing I founded a little bit exiting, was the appearance by Tom Hanks (his first film debut), actually why didn't he get more screen time, it would have been much more fun to look at him, than this sorry pierce of slasher cinema.This slasher movie, as many others, looks a lot like that successful movie called 'Halloween', not that I'm disappointed over that, because how can you, half of the slasher movies out there is a cheap knockoff of 'Halloween', but what i am disappointed about is the lack of creativeness in the soundtrack department... Ohhh boy, Alexander Peskanov & Mark Peskanov (the composers of this movie) have done a very cheap trick, they have copied John Carpenter's 'Halloween Theme', and good, it is not... it's BAD! And by the hand, what this slasher really need, is more gore and violence, you never get that wonderful feeling of B-movie trashiness, when you see the actual kills, after-all we only see these kind of movies, because we love to see how cheap and violent they can look, and this movie never shows that, the only "remotely violent thing" we get to see, is the killer waving with his knife in the air, and some blood dripping from the dead person (not even a single flesh wound)... it never gets more boring than that, expect for the talking scenes! There is many good slasher movies out there, so for the sake of horror-goodness... don't ever look at this loser of a movie!