John Carpenteris one of the most influential people in horror history asthe genius who brought us bothHalloweenandThe Thing, along with other classics likeEscape from New York,Christine, andThey Live. Before all of those, however, Carpenter got his first big breakthrough with a movie that’s been lost to time, 1978’sEyes of Laura Mars. It’s not Carpenter’s first ever movie, as he had directed independent fare such asDark StarandAssault on Precinct 13, but just months beforeHalloweenwould alter his life forever,Eyes of Laura Marswas released. Carpenter didn’t direct it (that distinction goes toIrvin Kershner,the man behindThe Empire Strikes Back), but he did write it, and being a Columbia Pictures film,it’s the first time he ever worked with a major studio.Eyes of Laura Marswas a star-studded affair headlined by the likes ofFaye Dunaway,Tommy Lee Jones, andBrad Douriff. Even though it wasn’t a box office sensation,taking in just $20 million during its theatrical release,it was influential to the genre, with its bloody fingerprints found all over one ofJames Wan’s best films.
Eyes of Laura Mars
A fashion photographer named Laura Mars develops the psychic ability to see through the eyes of a killer as he commits his crimes. As the murders draw closer to her own circle, Laura must unravel the mystery to save herself and those she loves.
John Carpenter Wrote the Screenplay for a Movie Meant for Barbra Streisand
Did you know that John Carpenter is an Oscar winner? Just after graduating from film school, Carpenter co-wrote a short film with his friendNick Castle(who would later play The Shape inHalloween), along with editing and doing the music forThe Resurrection of Broncho Billy, which went on to win an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. Not a bad start, eh? In 1974, Carpenter directed his first film,Dark Star, which he wrote withDan O’Bannon,the eventual mastermind behindAlienandThe Return of the Living Dead. Carpenter followed that up with the now cult classicAssault on Precinct 13.
1978 turned out to be one heck of a busy year for the 30-year-old Carpenter. Not only would there beHalloween, but he also directedthe made-for-TV NBC movie of the week,Someone’s Watching Me!Amidst all of that wasEyes of Laura Mars.First envisioned as a vehicle forBarbra Streisand,the role of the lead, Laura Mars, ended up going to Faye Dunaway, although Streisand still contributed to the soundtrack with the song “Prisoner (Love Theme fromEyes of Laura Mars).” Joining Dunaway was Tommy Lee Jones, and the future voice of Chucky, Brad Dourif. It was an impressive cast for Carpenter’s first big studio film credit, even though he doesn’t exactly look back on the writing experience so lovingly.
‘Eyes of Laura Mars’ Is a Love Letter To Italian Giallo Movies
Carpenter wrote the initial screenplay, an intriguing story about a New York fashion photographer who begins to have visions where she can suddenly see through the eyes of a serial killer right before he strikes. That may have been an intriguing premise to get the movie made, but Carpenter quickly found out that working with a big Hollywood studio had its issues, asColumbia Pictures brought in David Zelag Goodman to rewrite Carpenter’s project. In a 2016 interview withJustin Beahm, Carpenter, in true blunt and grumpy fashion, said:
“I haven’t seen it in so long, I don’t even remember what it is like. I do remember they fucked up the vision thing. If you’re seeing through someone else’s eyes and you don’t see through your own eyes, you’d fall down immediately. You’d have vertigo and lose your balance. It would be a weird physical sensation, and they didn’t have any of that going on. They also should have shot it with a Panaglide. It also shouldn’t have been handheld, but hell, I didn’t make it.”
John Carpenter’s Scariest Movie Is Technically a TV Show Episode
The gore here gives ‘The Thing’ a run for its money.
Eyes of Laura Marsplays out a lot like an Italian Giallo film, with its themes of sex and violence (Laura Mars takes controversial photos of her scantily clad models in front of violent backgrounds), the supernatural, a whodunit story with Jones' detective, and the unseen killer wearing a black glove.Eyes of Laura Marsfeels likea tribute to the best work ofDario Argento, even if it doesn’t quite work.In his written review,Roger Ebertgave the film just one and a half out of four stars,saying the film’s themes didn’t succeed for him and that he was able to guess the killer too easily.
James Wan Modeled ‘Malignant’ After ‘Eyes of Laura Mars’
Roger Ebert is a little harsh in his criticism, but perhaps that’s because he had seen too many movies. If you were a casual American moviegoer in 1978 unaware of Giallo films,Eyes of Laura Marsfelt fresh and exciting. It’s scary, mysterious, and well-acted, with Dunaway and Jones having great chemistry and showing why they became Hollywood legends. While not an overly sexual plot, the tease of it can be thrilling, and the murders are downright terrifying, like something out of a slasher. Laura Mars having an obsession with death in her work, who then becomes able to see actual death as it happens, is an intriguing approach by giving us a heroine who doesn’t come across as a dull, goody-two-shoes final girl type, but a raw, flawed, three-dimensional human being. Carpenter is right that the vision aspect could have been done better, andit’s not a film as smart as it pretends to be, as evident by a mystery that truly is too easy to solve, but it paved the way for other films, including one recent flick in particular.
In an interview withSciFiNowfor his 2021 horror filmMalignant,James Wan spoke about how it was partly inspired byEyes of Laura Mars. Wan said that he wanted to make that style of serial killer story where you watch through the eyes of the murderer, adding: “I just thought, ‘that’s something really cool that I grew up with, and I really enjoyed it back then and no one really makes anything like that anymore. So I thought it would be fun to go back to something we’re really familiar with and do my own thing to it, which is to completely flip it on its head. I use that as a starting point for inspiration and then I see where it takes me.”
There are striking similarities betweenEyes of Laura MarsandMalignant, mainly with the plot of our heroine having visions that show her a mysterious killer murdering their victims. Wan’s comment that he wanted to takeEyes of Laura Marsand flip it on its head is an understatement. Perhaps you can guess the end of John Carpenter’s first studio movie, butno one saw the twist ofMalignantcoming.
Eyes of Laura Marsis available to watch on Tubi in the U.S.
