Visiting Hours
Directed by Jean-Claude Lord
Produced by Victor Solnicki,
Claude Héroux,
Pierre David
Written by Brian Taggert
Starring Lee Grant
Linda Purl
Michael Ironside
William Shatner
Music by Jonathan Goldsmith
Cinematography René Verzier
Editing by Jean-Claude Lord
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation,
Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA, DVD)
Release date(s) May 28, 1982
Running time 105 min
Country Canada
Language English
Budget CAD 5,500,000 (estimated)
Visiting Hours (also known as Get Well Soon and The Fright) is a 1982 horror film starring Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl, William Shatner and Lenore Zann. It was directed by Jean-Claude Lord and written by Brian Taggert.
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Synopsis-Deborah Ballin (Grant), a feminist activist, inspires the wrath of psychopath Colt Hawker (Ironside) when she appears on a TV talk show. Though he breaks into her home and attacks her, she survives and is sent to County General Hospital.
Hawker soon discovers that she is alive, and begins stalking the halls of the hospital. Meanwhile, Deborah befriends nurse Sheila Munroe (Purl), who admires her devotion to women's rights. While searching for Deborah, Hawker murders an elderly patient and a nurse, and overhears Sheila voicing her opinions on Deborah and "that bastard" who attacked her. When Sheila finds the bodies of the patient and the nurse, Hawker decides to focus his attention on her, toying with her, and stalking her and her children at home.
After stalking Sheila, Hawker courts a young punk girl named Lisa (Zann). After taking her home, he brutally beats, tortures, and rapes her.
The next day, Deborah notices that Sheila isn't as friendly as usual, but shrugs it off. However, when she discovers that the woman and nurse have been killed, she suspects her attacker is back to finish the job- thinking the patient was her. She tries to convince her boss, Gary Baylor (Shatner), and Sheila that she is not safe, and that her assailant will return to finish her off. However, both think she is simply paranoid.
Meanwhile, Hawker stalks Sheila as she prepares for her shift at the local free clinic, then goes to visit his father, who was disfigured years ago by his mother, explaining his hatred for self-defending women.
The next night, he tries again at killing Deborah, but is once again thwarted by her security. He escapes and plans his next move. A frantic Sheila is paged, and goes to the desk to find Lisa (whose wounds she had treated the previous day) waiting for her. Lisa reveals photographs of Sheila and the dead patient, and that she knows the identity of Deborah's attacker, and where he lives. Just as Sheila and Lisa head upstairs to alert Deborah and Gary, Sheila gets an ominous phone call from Hawker, warning her that he is in her house with her young daughter and babysitter. She sends Lisa upstairs to warn Deborah, and begs a young police officer to accompany her home. When he tells her to calm down and explain, she frantically rushes home on her own, fearing for her daughter's life.
Lisa alerts Gary and Deborah of the killer's identity, and that Sheila frantically rushed home, while Hawker stalks Sheila's babysitter. Sheila arrives home and searches the house, only to find her daughter and babysitter, safe in bed. She cautiously goes to her living room to call Deborah. Just as Deborah answers, a hidden Hawker comes out and stabs Sheila in the stomach and pushes her to the ground, phone to her ear, and tortures her for Deborah to hear, taking photographs of Sheila's pained expressions. Then, he picks up a knife, moving for Sheila's young daughter. Paralyzed by the knife, Sheila can only scream in terror. However, he just looks at her daughter, and looks back coldly at Sheila, and walks out, leaving her to die.
Hawker goes home, knowing that all of his entrances and exits have been blocked off, and devises one last plan to get to Deborah. He busts a beer bottle underneath his arm, wounding himself badly. Meanwhile, Gary and Deborah have an ambulance sent to Sheila's house. Still alive, but badly wounded, she is rushed to the hospital. Gary accompanies the police to Hawker's apartment, where they discover photos of Hawker's previous victims, as well as Deborah and Sheila. They also learn that the wounded Hawker has been taken to County General. As Sheila is taken into the emergency room, Hawker is wheeled in. After being bandaged and medicated, Hawker sneaks away to kill Deborah. He finds and attacks her, but she manages to rush away into an elevator. Meanwhile, Sheila is taken into a shut-off wing for X-rays. Deborah finds herself in the basement, with Hawker in hot pursuit. After evading him once again, she goes into the radiography room, finding a helpless Sheila, all alone. Realizing she must lure Hawker away to protect Sheila, Deborah leaves the room, shutting the door, and deliberately gives her location away. Hawker follows, while Deborah hides behind a curtain. As Hawker approaches the curtain she is hiding behind, Deborah stabs him, killing him. Sheila is wheeled to safety, having survived the incident, while Gary comforts Deborah, who faints at the sight of what she has done.
