The Killing Hour
(a.k.a. The Clairvoyant)
(1982)
Director: Armand Mastroianni
Cast: Perry King, Elizabeth Kemp, Norman Parker
Way back in
the late 1960s, prominent members of the American Republican party like
Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were involved in a law and order
movement towards the American public, with one of their hopes being
that the public would in some way increase their support to various law
enforcers. Several decades later, the need for law enforcement to have
the support of the public seems just as high as it was back then. But I
am sure that if you are not involved in law enforcement, you are
probably asking yourself right now something along the lines of, "Well,
what can I do? I'm just an ordinary Joe." Probably the easiest thing
ordinary Joes could do is that if they were witness to some sort of
crime - or had information about a crime - they could contact their
local police. And if they were afraid of identifying themselves, some
countries like the United States and Canada have telephone tip lines
where you can not only report information anonymously, but can possibly
get cash rewards in the process. But what if you wanted to do more?
Well, you could bone up about every subject in the sun and offer your
services to the police as a private consultant like Sherlock Holmes.
However, when you think about it, the police probably wouldn't stand
for some upstart interfering with investigations that they have
prepared for by years of study before becoming law enforcers. Then
there's always the option of becoming a bounty hunter, at least if
you're American. Though with all the stories I have heard about bounty
hunters acting recklessly and getting away with this behavior, I am
glad that bounty hunting is illegal in my country of Canada. (For that matter, so are bail bondsman businesses.)
There is another option that some ordinary Joes have
used to try and support their local law enforcement, though some would
not call them "ordinary". That is with people who claim to have some
sort of psychic powers, powers that they say can help police do things
like locate a body or identify a murderer. This has indeed happened a
number of times in the past, enough times that any person with a good
head on their shoulders will ask why on earth would the police resort
to listening to someone who claims they have psychic powers. If you
have read my review of the movie Psychic,
you'll know the answer why. In that review, I illustrated that there
has been absolutely no evidence to suggest that E.S.P. or any other
so-called psychic power has the remote possibility of existing. To
their credit, most of law enforcement knows this fact themselves and
quickly dismiss kooks who claim to have psychic powers. But still on
occasion, police will take so-called psychics seriously. Why? I did a
little research, and uncovered a few reasons. Sometimes the police are
so desperate to solve a case that they will grab onto any claims, no
matter how outlandish the source might be. Much of the time, however,
it's because the people claiming to have psychic powers know how to
sell themselves. They will often go to the police and offer their
services for no cost at all, which makes them sound legitimate and
really wanting to help. The real reason they do this is to make money
in the long run. If their "visions" somehow help the police to solve a
case, they can put this triumph on their resume, which subsequently
makes it easier to convince little old ladies and other vulnerable people to
fork over their life savings to get some insight into their lives and
their future.
Before I start to sound like a wet blanket, I want to
confess that I really, really wish that psychic powers were a reality.
So much entertainment value could come from this, as well as the fact
that psychics could solve a lot of crimes that the police have not been
able to do so. So when I come across
a television show or a movie that
deals with psychics who get involved in crime solving, I don't immediately sneer at
the sheer impossibility of it - I am usually entertained to some degree
to what I am watching. The Killing Hour
was one such example that really entertained me when I first watched it
over twenty years ago, not just for the psychic angle. I decided to
take another look at it for this web site to see if it held up all
those years later. The events of the movie take place in and around New
York City. At the beginning of the movie, the dead body of a woman is
fished out of the Hudson River by the police. The police at the time
have the normal concern they usually have when they find a murdered
person, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that they have a
serial killer on their hands. Though the next victims of the killer are
not women, but are men instead. And every murder has a pair of
handcuffs connected to it one way or another. The investigation to the
murders is headed up by detective (and wannabe stand up comedian) Larry
Weeks (Norman Parker, Bulworth), but it really
starts to get going when a woman named Virna Nightbourne (Elizabeth Kemp, He Knows
You're Alone)
comes forward. She has psychic powers, and just before every murder she
has a vision that provides some kind of clue that she draws out for the
police. When local television reporter Paul McCormack (Perry King, Mandingo)
gets wind of this, he is naturally very interested and wants to learn
more. But when his hard-hitting reports on the murders almost get him
killed by an unidentified figure, Weeks quickly realizes he has to
protect both McCormack and Nightbourne from the killer, as well as track down and apprehend the killer. But can he?
As you can see from the above plot description, The Killing Hour
has additional burdens to carry besides with the portrayal of the
character who has psychic powers. The movie also has the task of
handling the character of the police detective and the television
reporter character in manners that will be acceptable to the audience.
The character of the cop Larry Weeks isn't the hardened police
investigator you usually get in movies like this, showing a somewhat
jovial side at times (though his imitations of celebrities like George
Burns and Woody Allen are pretty awful.) Actor Norman Parker also often
gives the character an everyman feeling elsewhere (he's no matinee
idol), so we in the audience can always relate to the character despite
the script weaknesses (more on that later.) On the other hand, actor
Perry King for his reporter character McCormack goes more towards the
opposite extreme, making his character a pretty sleazy guy who knows
what he wants and is determined to get it. Yet at the same time, King
is careful not to go all out, making his character with the aid of the
script somewhat unlikable but at the same time believable.
(Incidentally, when Parker and King are paired up in a scene, both
actors manage to make some great chemistry with their different
characters.) As for the psychic character of Virna, the screenplay
depicts her as somewhat troubled and burden by her "gift", not
completely understanding it or what she should do about it. She is no
superwoman, and actress Elizabeth Kemp in her performance underlines
that while her character clearly needs some help with what she is
experiencing, at the same time she is trying to do as much as she can
on her own. She's not a total wimp, and viewers will sympathize with
her and hope she can overcome her limitations and dangerous situation.
When the character of Virna has her visions of the
various murders, even viewers who have no belief that such powers could
exist in real life will probably admit that this particular cinematic
portrayal is more plausible than usual. Even though Virna sketches out
on paper the visions while she's having them, they are all the same
somewhat unclear and do not blatantly spell out what's happening.
Director Armand Mastroianni (He Knows You're Alone)
also directs these psychic visions in a very low-key manner, using soft
and minimal music (or no music at all), which adds to the realism and
lessens any possible feeling of us in the audience feeling manipulated.
There are also several murder sequences that are filmed in the same
manner, and they too have an extremely creepy feeling due to their
restrained presentations (for example, there's almost no blood in the
movie.) The surroundings of the psychic and murder sequences have their
own strengths as well. The unvibrant cinematography makes us feel the
cold weather and atmosphere of the then pre-cleaned up Big Apple, and with there being
precious few "wide" shots, we in the audience often get a
claustrophobic feeling that puts us in an uneasy feeling even while
nothing bad is happening. Mastrioanni also well executes a couple of
scenes of action that manage to feel realistic while at the same time
being very exciting. There is one significant problem with
Mastroianni's direction, however, and that is due to the fact that much
of the movie moves at an extremely slow pace. Certainly, I was glad
that the movie didn't have the breakneck pacing many modern day
thrillers have, but all the same there are many moments where it is
clear that the movie is almost right up to just spinning its wheels.
Actually, Mastrioanni the director may have been
hampered by Mastrioanni the writer (cowriting the movie's story with
another writer.) The finished screenplay apparently wasn't as finished
as he might have thought. It takes more than thirty minutes into the
movie before cop Weeks and his associates seem to seriously start an
investigation into the serial killings, and it takes even longer for
the psychic Virna to go to the police and let them know the visions she
is having. Up to those two points - and many times after those two
points - the movie often comes to a near halt with long scenes of
characters talking much more than is necessary. There is also a lengthy
subplot about Weeks and McCormack both courting the character of Virna
during the investigation, which in the end doesn't really go anywhere
and just drags out the story. Still, I will admit that even with all of
this padding, I never got seriously bored, since the dialogue in these
sequences doesn't seem especially stupid or annoying. Also, the whole
mystery angle of the movie does pop up enough times to refresh the
audience. This mystery angle, by the way, does have some surprises
along the way that will keep you guessing what the explanation is for a
long time. I remember the first time I saw the movie, the mystery kept
me enthralled and guessing until a few minutes before the ultimate revelation during the climax, when I
suddenly though, "Wait a minute - could the answer be...?" - and I was
subsequently proven to be correct. But even though I knew the ultimate
answer right from the start of my second viewing of The Killing Hour,
this time around I had fun seeing the clues to the big answer that
almost passed me by the first time. Although I might not have psychic
powers, I have a strong feeling that those looking for a horror/mystery
thriller will find enough to enjoy about this movie.
(Posted February 18, 2023)
Check for availability on Amazon (DVD)
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Check for availability on Amazon (Amazon Prime Video)
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Check
for availability for novelization "The Clairvoyant" on Amazon (Book)
See also: The Bloodstained
Shadow, Psychic Killer, The Sender
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