''The Headless Eyes'' is a 1971 American

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by

Kent Bateman Bruce Kent Bateman is an American movie producer and director. Personal life Bateman is the father of actors Jason Bateman and Justine Bateman. Kent Bateman was a film producer for Ealing Films (not to be confused with the Ealing Studios, Britis ...

Plot

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 Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

for a

rapist Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...

, 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.

Cast

* Bo Brundin as Arthur Malcolm * Gordon Ramon * Kelley Swartz * Mary Jane Early

Production

The film was produced by Ron Sullivan (credited as Henri Pachard), a cinematographer with a background in

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

s. The film's director, Kent Bateman, is the father of actors Justine and

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...

Release

The film was distributed by J.E.R. Pictures, an independent company based in

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, New York City, who paired it as a double feature with '' The Ghastly Ones'' (1968). It opened in

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora) is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrat ...

on October 27, 1971 as part of this double feature. Though it received an

X rating An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

due to violence, the film was a box-office success.

Home media

The film was released on

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Wizard Video Wizard Video was a home video distribution company formed by B movie producer Charles Band in the early 1980s. It was well-known for its detailed (and often lurid) box art, especially during the time that it sold videocassettes in larger individ ...

on July 16, 2013. Code Red released a

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

edition of the film featuring two alternate cuts on December 6, 2016.

Reception

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." 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". 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, tearns its place in the exploitation pantheon because it's as isolated, weird, and discordant as its main character."

References

Sources

External links

* * * {{1970s-horror-film-stub 1971 films 1971 horror films 1971 independent films 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s exploitation films 1970s serial killer films American independent films American serial killer films American slasher films American splatter films