He Knows You're Alone

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTAL)

How’s this for weird: As I go to put in the He Knows You’re Alone DVD, I see that the Al Pacino movie Scent of a Woman is on. I watch it for a few minutes, and I see an actor who is one of those guys that’s in every movie ever, but you don’t know his name and probably would have trouble actually NAMING one of the movies if you saw him on the street. His most memorable turn is probably in ID4, as the Secretary of Defense who constantly wants to nuke everything and confesses to the President that Area 51 is real. Anyway, not thinking much of it, I begin Alone, and not 20 minutes into the damn thing, the very same guy shows up as a professor who is fucking one of the main girl’s friends! Now his name shall never be forgotten: James Rebhorn.

YOU!

Anyway, that is just one of the many, many things I would like to mention in this review (it’s gonna be a long one folks. Might want to grab a magazine. Oh wait, no, never mind.). I’d also like to point out that this makes two films in a row that ripped off the Halloween score.

For starters (not counting what I already said at least), I find it kind of odd that the film is relatively unknown. It gets mentioned a lot due to the appearance of a future star, but otherwise it’s been totally overshadowed by the other films of the era, and I am really not sure why. It’s definitely pretty unique. While I have trouble telling some of the eras lesser known slasher movies apart, this one sticks out right from the start, with a slasher movie within a slasher movie sequence that was later copied in Scream 2. Then Paul Gleason shows up as, yes, a cop, who abruptly disappears from the film (in mid-sentence no less!) a few scenes later.

Plus, the movie has a record number of “Worsts” for a horror movie.

Worst greenscreen ever:

Worst dummy head ever:

Worst killer’s mask ever:

And, I guess this would apply to all movies; worst advice from a cop ever:


Our targets are brides to be, which is pretty sweet (in one of the film’s many odd moments, all the horny guys are sent off to a bachelor party in the first 10 minutes, and apart from a quick cutaway to one of them making a phone call, are never heard from again), putting the film in the same jilted lover slasher subgenre that is comprised of pretty much just Valentine and My Bloody Valentine. And speaking of MBV, this film has a song that’s almost as amazing: a ditty called “It’s The Night Again” that plays over one of the kill scenes. It sounds like a lost Air Supply number, but sadly I can find no copies or even basic info about the song online (the first Google match for the artist’s name is just another HKYA review that bemoans the lack of info about the artist). Someone needs to put out a compilation CD of slasher movie ballads. It’d be the greatest CD ever compiled by someone who wasn’t me (I make killer mix CDs, at least as far as I am concerned).

Off-kilter seems to be the order of the day for this movie. Granted, any movie that casts Don Scardino (“God I love antiques!!!”) as a romantic hero/lead is pretty odd, but they go to extremes, especially with the editing. I already mentioned Gleason’s non-final final scene, but there’s also a jump cut in the middle of an establishing shot, and another abrupt edit when Scardino is presumably about to use some slang for a homosexual man, leaving us with only “He’s a closet!” OK, movie.

But there’s also a lot of originality, considering the time period. For example, the killer’s motive is literally revealed as the end credits roll. Granted it’s not exactly mind-bending, and you can probably figure it out long before, but there’s something sort of charming about literally waiting till the last second to give the audience a bit of explanation for why the guy was killing everyone.

And yes, of course, as I mentioned, the film is famous nowadays primarily for being the first appearance of a future star. I speak of course of Dana Barron, who went on to be the first Audrey Griswold (and the only one to play her twice, as she appeared in the otherwise worthless TV movie Christmas Vacation 2). She plays Final Girl’s little sister, and it’s good casting, as they DO look alike. Her biggest scene takes place at a carnival with her sister, her sister’s friend, and an average looking guy who is given, in keeping with the rest of the movie, the oddest pick up line in history (he trips the girl as she jogs so he could guarantee she would stop). For some reason he doesn’t get killed, but maybe he will pop up in something else someday.

There’s a commentary track on the DVD, but that aforementioned review said it was boring and filled with gaps. And I’m not in the mood for that. I’m sure it will never get a better release, but if you can find it cheap (perhaps via a small ad a few lines below? :) ), it’s definitely worth a purchase. Putting it in its proper context, writer Scott Parker and director Armand Mastroianni should be commended for being as different as they could while strictly adhering to the standard slasher formula of the time.

What say you?

14 comments:

  1. A mixed disc of killer ballads- now that is something that seriously needs to be put to action.

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  2. Wilson!!!! The girl who played Audrey twice totally has more star power than Tom.

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  3. I'm sure I've seen this movie before, but I just can't place it. I do recognise that actor tho. Very good character actor - I remember him most from The Game, the Michael Douglas / Sean Penn movie. Must check out his 70s/early 80s repertoire! :)

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  4. That's funny--an old girlfriend of mine was on a bus with Rebhorn in LA once, and she described him as "that guy who's in everything; he's kinda pinched-looking?" I thought I knew who she meant (turns out I did), but neither of us could think of anything he'd been in--a few months later she calls me up and goes "Turn on (whatever channel)!" Independence Day was on. "That's the guy from the bus!"

    I'm old enough to remember when Dennehy was who you meant when you said "y'know, that guy who's in everything."

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  5. HAHAHAHA that story is awesome. Oh Rebhorn. I hope I meet him someday. And you're right, he's someone you'll recognize instantly but yet be at a total loss to name one movie he was in (at least, until now).

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  6. I have information on the song Its The Night Again. Im in contact with someone that is related to the singer and HAS the song!

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  7. The obvious info for starters at the end of the movie credits:

    "IT'S THE NIGHT AGAIN"

    Words by Alexanderaand Mark Peskanov, Brooksie Wells

    Music by Alexander and Mark Peskanov

    Sung by Vini Canali


    The director found it was cheaper to hire someone to record songs for the movie than it would be to license music. And is the biggest reason why music from the film can not be found so easily.

    Vini Canali is an American and was born in Brooklyn. He had some moderate success with his group, the Javalons, this was way before "He Knows You're Alone".

    His brother, who i have spoke with has a lot of his early music and also the song "It's The Night Again". However, the original song is slightly different then the version you hear in the movie. There is less instrumentals. They added the instrumentals to the song for the movie.

    In closing, he has been going through his stuff and hopes to find the song over the weekend to share with fans that have been looking for the song for many years. I will keep you posted!

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  8. This is so great - thanks so much!

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  9. No problem! Glad i could help!

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  10. Hi I loved that song... really good So have you any updates on it?

    PS Even tho the movie "He Knows Your Alone" was low budget it still had a good story.... It's like a good bad movie.

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  11. Patsy Pease who played Joyce was my favourite Soap star of the 1980s. She as Kimberly Brady and Charles Shaughnessy as Shane Donovan became one of Days of Our Lives' best known Super Couples.

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  12. It's one of the better Halloween ripoffs, and that Joyce character is a real ball busting bitch.

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  13. It's just had a Blu release from Shout Factory - significantly better than any of the others!! Miracles do happen, and it's choc full of great bonus features too. I love the film and have seen it dozens of times. And now Halloween is approaching it's time to watch it again. Also, not only did the oh so, original writer of Scream 2 rip this off, but the head in the fishtank scene was also ripped off in Eyes of a stranger the folllowing year. Oh, and while Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom exists, this movie will never have the worst blue screening in any film.

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