Visiting Hours

(1982)

Talk show host and feminist, Deborah Ballin, enrages sociopath Colt during one of her broadcasts after emphatically stating that women have the right to defend themselves and even kill their abusive husbands. Returning home later that evening Deborah is viciously attacked by Colt, who is half-naked and wearing her jewelry for some reason.



Stupidly she tries to escape in her dumb waiter, which backfires when Colt simply cuts the rope and she falls. It’s unclear how she escapes this dicey situation but she is soon rescued and brought to the hospital where young nurse Shelia befriends and becomes very protective of her. Meanwhile her producer, Captain Kirk, visits and eats her yogurt.



The rest of the film follows Colt’s numerous attempts to murder Deborah as she recovers in the hospital. For some reason a b-story is introduced near the end of the film involving Colt’s attempt to murder nurse Shelia in her home. If you want to know how the last 20 minutes on Visiting Hours unfolds simply watch the last 20 minutes of Halloween II.


I gotta admit, Michael Ironside is a good psycho

With some serious editing Visiting Hours might have been an effective stalker/thriller. Instead too much time is devoted to Colt’s back story, which involves his abused mother disfiguring his father with a pot of boiling water after enduring one too many beatings. The b-story mentioned above is completely unnecessary and disrupts the tension of the central story. My main nitpick however is that although Deborah is a semi-famous local talk show host and her plight is well publicized by the media, Colt is still able to easily slip in and out of the hospital despite a large security presence. Several times in the film he walks right up to her hospital bed to attack her (!)


I have 'mom' issues

Also, I’m not kidding about the film’s similarities to Halloween II. The last 20 minutes mimic Laurie Strode’s attempts to flee from Michael down the creepy hallways and elevators of the seemingly empty hospital. Sadly, William Shatner is completely wasted in this movie and only shows up in 2 or 3 scenes to dispense wisdom about mental and physical recovery.


"Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"