An Eye for an Eye (1973)

A child-like puppeteer, for a public access children's show, goes over the deep end when he discovers kids he entertains at a hospital were victims of horrible abuse. This movie has some of the worst indescribably monstrous parents you could ever come across. Not an exploitation film as much as an afterschool special on the dangers of child abuse. Seemingly harmless, Mr. Rabby takes matters into his own hands when it seems the police are neutered by lack of evidence to convict loathsome parents of their terrible abuse towards their children. The children are emotionless and zombie-like(..due to the amount of abuse inflicted upon them), the parents loud, inconceivably harsh, contemptible, and belligerent. The mothers, in particular, are so obscene, you'll root for their execution. They are essentially miserable people taking out their frustrations on the kids. Our detectives are a tired lot, frustrated with the whole judicial process, how police procedure is often unable to prosecute those who beat their kids into submission. While the crimes themselves are heinous, the film doesn't explicitly elaborate the grisly activity on screen. I'd say the reason to see this is for Tom Basham's performance as the unbalanced man-child who slips into psychosis. There's quite a weird dinner table sequence between Basham's Mr. Rabbey and his guardian shortly after he murdered the parents responsible for the death of their child, regarding how he lives in a fantasy and how what he had just done has left an indelible mark(..notice the changes in behavior, pretty impressive work, going from innocent to creepy). Peter Renaday is Lt. Hayes, the detective in charge of the homicides cases, expressing on his face the strain that is taking it's toll on him. There's an early performance by John Ashton as detective Matthews, always raising the ire of Hayes because of his inability to follow directions, not to mention how opinionated he is regarding the parents abusing their kids. Awkward laid-back bluesy score that seems improper for a film such as this. Controversial conclusion establishing that even kids can only tolerate so much. A bit too slow moving for my tastes, but there's an effective use, I felt, of Basham's eyes before he takes care of business, waiting patiently as he prepares to strike.

This is a gritty, low-budget oddity from the early 1970's that actually tried half-heartedly to tackle a serious social issue, child abuse, with less-than-sucessful results. While the abusive parents who are offed by the titular protagonist (the deranged host of a kiddie show) are definitely deserving, their gory deaths are so ridiculously over-the-top that it's hard to take the whole thing very seriously. There's nothing wrong with a horror movie having a serious social message,on one hand, or entertaining the audience with absurd, cartoon-style violence,on the other, but it just doesn't work to do both things in the same movie. Still this movie is worth seeing if you can find it. One of the only existing video prints has burned-in Spanish subtitles that will have you in stiches if you're at all bilingual--they're often NOT EVEN CLOSE to the actual English dialogue.

Pretty amazing movie directed by a guy who primarily directed gay porn (and produced by Jackson Bostwick...TV's Shazam (?!?))It was released in the South under the title "An Eye for An Eye" with the gimmick that you voted whether the little girl at the end was guilty or innocent (by dropping a ballot in a box on the way out of the theater, so obviously it was a pretty lame gimmick).My father called it "utter trash" (I begged him to take me to see it) and I credit it for nurturing (creating?) my love of exploitation movies. Someone should do a nice DVD release on this film.

Tom Basham's over the top performance as a looney children's television show host is frighteningly realistic. When he discovers that some of his viewers are being abused by their parents he flips and takes matters into his own hands. Death by baseball bat, lawnmower, and strangulation are just a few of the things he has in store for the abusive parents. This seldom seen slasher is also highlighted by Basham's odd relationship with his puppets, as well as his blanket which he calls Mr.Rabbey. Psychopath also features weird music and endless close-ups of Basham's wild eyes. A must for fans of weird horror.