This article is missing information about the film's production, controversy, and theatrical release.(July 2018) |
The Headless Eyes | |
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![]() Promotional poster | |
Directed by | Kent Bateman |
Written by | Kent Bateman |
Produced by | Ron Sullivan (as Henri Pachard) [1] |
Starring |
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Production company | Laviniaque Films |
Distributed by | J.E.R. Pictures Cinema Shares International Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Headless Eyes is a 1971 American exploitation horror film written and directed by Kent Bateman.
![]() | This article needs an improved plot summary.(July 2018) |
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.
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]
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]
The film was released on DVD by Wizard Video on July 16, 2013. [3] Code Red released a Blu-ray edition of the film featuring two alternate cuts on December 6, 2016. [4]
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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]
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