The 1970s and early 1980s signaled a time in which women's roles in American society were changing more palpably than ever. With a film like He Knows You're Alone, though it may appear as just another superficial horror movie, the evidence of this fact exists in a plot-line that subtly discourages the female gender from marrying.
How It All Begins
Like any truly multi-dimensional serial killer, there is a "legitimate" reason for why our villain begins his bloodthirsty quest to kill any bride-to-be he comes across. It all stems from the fact that the woman he was going out with rejects him in favor of marrying someone else. Once he kills her, it sets off an innate need to destroy any potential wife material he sees fit.
On the Rampage
After targeting his first victim in several years in a movie theater as--in a somewhat over the top tinge of irony--a horror movie plays, the head of the murder investigation, Detective Frank Daley (Paul Gleason), informs a fellow detective, Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt), "She was getting married next week." Gamble is alight with the prospect of getting vindication when he responds, "He's back. He's given me a second chance."
The film then cuts to the serial killer on the bus, where he allows his mind to wander to a flashback of Len's wedding day, rehashing a scene in which his fiancée is brushing her hair in preparation for the ceremony. The serial killer, who we cannot see as Len's fiancée instructs him to leave, stabs her brutally in repayment for her jilting of his love.
The Killer's Latest Victim
Amy (Caitlin O'Heaney) is seemingly unique from the killer's other victims in that she does not appear to be all that enthusiastic about getting married to her boyfriend. However, Ray (Tom Rolfing), bloodthirsty bride murderer that he is, fails to notice this particular detail about Amy, unwittingly learning that she is about to be married when a troop of Boy Scouts sing a rendition of "Here Comes the Bride." Overhearing it as he disembarks from the bus, Ray seizes the chance to stalk a new victim.
Marvin and Amy
The second Amy's husband to be, Phil (James Carroll), leaves town, Amy's ex-boyfriend, Marvin (Don Scardino), takes a risk in trying to win her back. After talking to Amy's younger sister about her schedule for the day, Marvin manufactures a run-in with Amy before she goes to have her wedding dress fitted. He cautions her, "You shouldn't marry someone on the rebound." Amy rebuffs his advances, bringing up the fact that he was the one who abandoned her for an entire summer.
Still, it is easy to see that she has residual feelings for him, prompting her to ask the tailor at the dress shop, "Is it worth it? Well, getting married, I mean." In a response that may be evocative of the times, but nonetheless a continually common sentiment, he assures, "It's better than being alone."
In the backdrop of Marvin's pursuit, Amy also has the sneaking suspicion that she is being followed--a theory that is reiterated as she changes out of her wedding gown in the dressing room as Armand Mastroianni's directorial style suffuses the scene with suspense. Ultimately, it is Marvin who bursts through the curtains and urges, "Run away with me. We'll move to New York and exist on our intense love for each other. What do you say?"
After his numerous ploys to reinstate his position in her life, it appears as though Amy is actually amenable to the suggestion, turning to him for comfort when she comes face to face with Ray, who makes his presence known to her outside of her house the morning after he kills one of her friends.
"Don't You Like to be Scared, Amy?"
One of the more cerebral portions of He Knows You're Alone comes in the form of a cameo appearance by Tom Hanks as Elliot, a jogger who ingratiates himself into an outing with Amy, Amy's sister, and Amy's friend, Nancy (Elizabeth Kemp), to the fair.
After Amy expresses her distaste for riding on one of the roller coasters, her sister asks incredulously, "Don't you like to be scared, Amy?" This spurs Elliott to proffer an analysis on why people secretly enjoy being frightened: "You can face death without any real fear of dying. It's safe. You can leave the movie or get off the ride with a vicarious thrill and the feeling that you've just conquered death."
Influenced by and Influenced On
He Knows You're Alone is often accused of borrowing from the style and plot motifs that popularized the horror genre in 1978's Halloween. With its over the top close-ups, dramatically climactic score, and overall grainy and low-budget cinematography, the film does closely mirror the John Carpenter classic.
It should be noted, however, that one of the quintessential horror/suspense movie of the 1990s, Wes Craven's Scream 2, borrows quite obviously from several scenes in Mastroianni's film. The most overt example being the introduction of He Knows You're Alone, when the audience realizes it is a film within a film scenario and also when a female moviegoer is stabbed by Ray repeatedly during a spine-chilling moment in the "fake" movie, causing everyone to ignore her frantic cries of agony, passing them off merely as a reaction to what she is seeing on the screen.
Genna Rivieccio - Genna Rivieccio's brain was designed specifically to retain an amalgam of pop culture images, references, and sound bites.
