BLIND ALLEY
US, 1984, 87 minutes, Colour.
Anne Carlisle, Brad Rijn.
Directed by Larry Cohen.
Blind Alley is a thriller written by Larry Cohen. Cohen is best-known for his horror thrillers like It's Alive, It Lives Again, Q the Winged Serpent, The Stuff, Full Moon High. He also directed and wrote The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, a sardonic portrait of the head of the F.B.1.
This is familiar murder material, especially with the child witness. The ex-Vietnam soldier, hired as a Mafia-type killer, ingratiates himself with the mother of the child, intending to kill the child who could identify him. The material is fairly predictable but handled quite competently, if not with Cohen's usual flair.
1. Interesting thriller? Predictable material? Well-handled? The use of New York city, the streets, the apartments? Musical score and atmosphere?
2. The title and its suspense? (The original title being Perfect Strangers?)
3. The atmosphere of the city, the dangers, the killer stalking the drug dealer, the murder in the street? The little boy looking out through the hole in the fence? The effect of the child witnessing the murder? A setting for a thriller?
4. Jack and his background, Vietnam, the Mafia, his killing the drug-dealers? The sequence in the barber's shop with the bosses playing with him and warning him? Jack checking out with the youngster how much a 3-year-old remembers? Meeting the mother, ingratiating himself with her, sharing tier interests? Friendliness, the affair? His relationship with Matthew? Having the boy in his confidence? Changing his attitude? The possibility of killing him: the suspense of swinging Matthew high on the swing? The encounters with the husband, the fight? His anger flaring and the mother reacting against him? His taking Matthew in the truck? The murder of the private detective? The building tip of the suspense, the audience wondering whether he would kill Matthew? His appearing at the door and the mother killing him - with Matthew alive? The American killer type? The dilemma of saving himself and personal relationships?
5. Matthew, his watching the killing, his ape, the possibility of identifying Jack, the photos and his looking at them, playing with Jack, in his confidence, Jack saving him? His relationship with his mother, her leaving him be? The reconciliation at the end?
6. His mother and Matthew, the background of the marriage break-up, the clashes with the father, his taking Matthew in the street? The meal and their talk? Her friendship with the women and the women's demonstrations, her taking Jack? Her saying she was a good mother - yet leaving Matthew unattended? The murder, her concealing the truth? The affair with Jack, friendship, sharing with him? Her hostility, towards the police investigator and not looking at the photos? The clashes with her husband? Matthew being taken by Jack and her anxiety?
7. The women and the demonstrations, ideals, friends?
8. The work of the police, the inspector, the photos?
9. Ordinary material - or something more?
