110) He Knows You're Alone (1980)

"No, Frank. He's back. He's giving me a second chance."

Director
Armand Mastroianni

Cast
Caitlin O' Heaney - Amy Jensen
Don Scardino - Marvin Travis

Elizabeth Kemp - Nancy
Patsy Pease - Joyce

Tom Rolfing - Ray Carlton
James Rebhorn - Prof. Carl Mason
Paul Gleason - Det. Frank Daley
Lewis Arlt -  Det. Len Gamble
Tom Hanks - Elliot

Did you, reader, ever stop and ask yourself, "Self, what was Tom Hanks's first movie role?" 
I asked myself that question a while ago. And wouldn't you know...his first movie appearance is in a slasher flick called "He Knows You're Alone" released in 1980. 
So, I looked for it, found it, and watched it.
Hanks doesn't play a big role in this first movie of his. And actually, his part is completely unnecessary. 
Figuring that out, I couldn't help but wonder if Hanks, back when he was working on this movie, pondered what direction his acting career would go from there. 
He went from a generally pointless side-character in "He Knows You're Alone" to a huge celebrity that has played notable people such as Fred Rogers, Jim Lovell, Capt. Richard Phillips, Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, and Walt Disney.
Incidentally, the next two movies Hanks stars in after this are "Splash" (1984) and "Bachelor Party" (1984). Large oaks from little acorns grow!
"He Knows You're Alone" centers on a young bride-to-be and a maniacal serial killer of brides-to-be. 
The movie begins as a bride is murdered hours before her wedding by her dejected and jealous ex-boyfriend, Ray Carlton (Tom Rolfing), whom she broke up with for her current fiancé. 
Afterwards, he begins a string of murdering young women engaged to be married. 
The next victim is a young girl named Marie who's at a horror movie with her best friend. In the middle of the movie, she goes to use the bathroom. On her way there, Marie thinks someone is following her. 
Worried, she gets back to her seat and tells her friend who shrugs it off as the horror movie messing with her mind. 

A man sits right behind Marie, slowly pulls out a knife, and stabs her through the seat. She slumps over dead and into her friends lap. 
The killer happens to be Carlton, who escapes into the night.
He travels by bus to Staten Island where he overhears a university student named Amy Jensen (Caitlin O'Heaney) chattering about her upcoming wedding as she says goodbye to her fiancé Phil (James Carroll) and his buddies as they leave for an extended bachelor party vacation.
Carlton gets off the bus and starts to stalk Jensen. 
He begins murdering people associating with her including her dressmaker, her best friend Joyce (Patsy Pease) and her university professor, Carl Mason (James Rebhorn), whom Joyce is having an affair with, a couple of pet goldfish, and her other friend, Nancy (Elizabeth Kemp). 

Tom Rolfing and Caitlin O' Heaney in "He Knows You're Alone"

Nancy recently started dating Elliot (Tom Hanks) - a jogger whom she often sees jogging along a forest trail. 

Meanwhile, Jensen's old boyfriend Marvin (Don Scardino) wants to hook back up with her, and tries to convince her not to marry Phil. Rather than grow angry and drive him off, Jensen feels bad for Marvin and treats him kindly despite his encouragement to call off the wedding.
The police are trailing Carlton, trying to figure out who specifically he's going after next. 

After investigating the dressmaker's murder scene, one of the investigators obtains a clue that points to Amy Jensen as his potential next target.
Jensen meanwhile sees Carlton in her backyard one evening, and quickly figures out she's being stalked. 
Pretty soon, the killer has her and Marvin trapped in the morgue where Marvin works. The police need to get to Carlton first before he gets to Jensen. 

"He Knows You're Alone" not only marks Hank's initial film role, it's also the directorial debut for director Armand Mastroianni. 

He went on to direct other under-the-radar horror films such as "The Clairvoyant" (1982), "The Supernaturals" (1986), and "Cameron's Terror" (1988). He also directed a few episodes of T.V.'s "Tales from the Darkside", "Friday the 13th: The Series" and one episode of "The Dead Zone."

"He Knows You're Alone" has decent enough production value, but the plot is substandard. 
The story feels like it was made by someone who watched a ton of horror movies but never wrote a story in their life, and then decided to write a movie using all the tropes they've seen in horror movies. It has a killer who moves quickly all over town and is always present in the shadows. There's the cop named Frank, at least one dumb character, a main character who stupidly puts herself in harm's way, and the bad guy doesn't die that easily. At least the phone works when its a matter of life and death, and the car is able to start.
Some of the shots, such as a scene with Jensen walking along a sidewalk with Carlton lurking nearby as well as some POV shots from the killer's perspective seem inspired by John Carpenter's successful 1978 slasher flick, "Halloween."   

The soundtrack as well seems a little similar to that from "Halloween."

But to the movie's credit, it doesn't attempt to be a "Halloween" rip-off. It works to be its own movie.  
The opening doesn't waste time building the uneasiness and apprehension. It turns out to be a scene from a movie. A twist done in horror films several other times before.

The horror factor comes and goes. The most horrific scene, outside of the dead goldfishes, is a scene where Jensen finds Nancy's severed head in the fish tank. 

What the movie does to keep the trepidation lingering from scene to scene is tacky and cheap - eerie music, predictable clues, blown out fuses, and someone hiding right off camera. Most of the horror content induces nothing more than eye-rolling.

"He Knows You're Alone" tries hard to be a horrific thriller, only to come out as an underwhelming, predictable (in the worst way) slasher flick. It's lucky enough to carry the claim of being the first movie with now superstar Tom Hanks.

Elizabeth Kemp as Nancy, and Tom Hanks as Elliot.