20th Century Fox released Visiting Hours in the United States on 28 May 1982. Astral Films released it in Canada the week before. Normally, I would have picked the earlier date, given that it was a Canadian production. But today is such a terrible day for anniversaries! So I’m putting it here.
The year 1981 brought us two notable hospital-based slasher films: Hospital Massacre and Halloween II. So Visiting Hours came late in this trend. But I think it’s the best of the lot. It at least offers a more interesting plot. Critics did right by Hospital Massacre. They ignored it. Had they bothered to watch it, they would have hated it. And that is the problem with “critic as ombudsman.” Too many of these professional trolls watch films that aren’t made for them.
Critics had to review Halloween II given how much they praised the original (which is just okay). And, of course, they found it wanting. It was too violent. Too bloody. Too mean. I know many people will disagree, but I think it was also less boring. I’m not a big slasher fan. And there is much to admire in the original film. But it’s mostly a bunch of waiting around.
But the critics had their knives out going in to see Visiting Hours. It had a fairly big budget. And it featured two bona fide stars and psychotronic favorite Michael Ironside — just off his success in Scanners. And what were its problems? Leslie Halliwell, always the open-minded viewer, wrote, “Tedious shocker wasting a reliable idea.” Leonard Maltin called it an “extremely unpleasant and distasteful shocker,” which was “needlessly sadistic.”
More recent (almost exclusively negative) reviews highlight Michael Ironside’s performance. This wasn’t true of contemporary reviews since Ironside wasn’t the icon he later became. But this is unfair. All the actors in Visiting Hours are terrific. But this is an old critic’s trick: highlight one performance over the rest so that readers think you are knowledgeable and were paying attention.
Not that I don’t have my own criticisms. I think the plot is needlessly complicated. And (as usual) I think the film could be cut down by at least 15 minutes. I do, however, think it is one of the better slasher films. But who cares what I think? As I said, I’m not that into them. But I think Visiting Hours is worth checking out — for slasher and non-slasher fans!
Other 28 May Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Ian Fleming (1908-1964): The creator of James Bond.
- Edith Massey (1918-1984): Actor known for her work with John Waters.
- Zelda Rubinstein (1933-2010): Actor known especially for playing the medium in Poltergeist.
- Sondra Locke (1944-2018): Actor in Willard and many of her husband’s films.
- Patricia Quinn (1944-): Actor best known for the role of Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- Ashley Laurence (1966-): Actor in various things but particularly the Hellraiser franchise.
- Monica Keena (1979-): Actor in a number of horror films, including Freddy vs Jason and the remake of Night of the Demons.
Films
- Rocky III (1982): Like with Die Hard, the third film was one too many.
- Cliffhanger (1993): Mountain claimbers forced to help criminals.
- The Thirteenth Floor (1999): Virtual reality nonsense — similar to many films of that time like Dark City, eXistenZ, and The Matrix.
- An Erotic Vampire In Paris (2002): A girl goes to Paris and is taken in by a vampire; horror-adjacent softcore porn.
- The Day After Tomorrow (2005): Roland Emmerich disaster film in a freezing world.
- Spectres (2004): A depressed teen gets ghosts stuck to her.
Visiting Hours (1982) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.