White of the Eye

by Bake Snaker January 4, 2007

What a strange strange film. 1986 Cannon film starring David Keith
and Cathy Moriarty. Had to buy a Dutch import cause it has never been
released here on DVD.

If you don’t know anything about this film…which I didn’t until
hearing about this Dutch DVD release..basically it is a thriller that
came out during the Jagged Edge/Fatal Attraction years. David Keith
plays the suspect of a string of brutal murders… his wife Cathy
Moriarty doesn’t know which side to choose. Scenes from the past are
intercut with the present…you see how this synopsis is so vague….
that’s basically because the movie has a very strange structure and
style. Hard to describe. Over-stylized murders..obviously influenced
by Argento… weird music and references to American-Indian folklore.

Cathy Moriarty, even in her 80’s garb and crimped hair, is still one
of the most beautiful white women in the world. And the kid that they
cast to play her daughter looks like a retarded troll…every scene
that she’s in…I’m just thinking… how could Cathy make this thing?

Larry McConkey…famous steadicam artist…dp’d this film. Some shots
are grainy as hell but they decided to steadicam 90% of the film. It
almost steadicam overkill. But it looks cool.

Some lil trivia here – When the movie was threatened with an X-rating,
Marlon Brando, a close friend of director Donald Cammell, wrote a
lengthy appeal to MPAA to bring it down to R.

Donald Cammell is a strange one and I’ll be reviewing Demon Seed and some of his others soon.