After winning her Academy Award, Lee Grant got a lot of work to make up for those years when she was blacklisted. She's fantastic. The film in which she is the lead is not, a repulsive and perverted story of a deranged stalker (a very creepy Michael Ironside) who is completely deranged and not at all fun to watch. He's simply angered by Grant's reporter doing a story on violence against women and decides she must pay.

There's also William Shatner as her confidante and Linda Purl as her nurse, various patients and other nurses and women whom Ironside victimizes including a pickup he violently assaults. This is like a low-budget cable TV movie where similar situations were presented and leaves the female character in Jeopardy. When ironside is able to disguise himself as a hospital employee and gets into the operating room where Grant is prepped for surgery to fix what he did to her, the film does a disservice to the medical industry by indicating that just any psycho can walk into a hospital, grab a set of scrubs and go anywhere they want.

The saving grace in this film is not the tension that erupts with a psycho stalker around or the script or direction or supporting cast but the commanding Grant who never gave a bad performance regardless of how hideous the material was. You can root for her, and you can also fast-forward through the things that she is not in. That's the only way I was able to make this movie without completely turning it off because as much as I disliked it, I wanted to see how the script had Grant get through this ordeal.

I'll start by saying that the slasher film genre is one of my least favourites. This is generally because, after a few excellent movies, the films that flooded the 1980s all became derivative, repetitive, and downright boring. The only thing you could look forward to in these movies were the gory special effects, where the oh-so-annoying teenage victims finally got their just desserts. But just occasionally you'll find a slasher flick that transcends the genre and becomes more than just a routine bloodbath; I'm pleased to say that VISITING HOURS is such a film. Instead of a faceless monster stalking young girls, instead we get a psychological slasher film which explores the character of its antagonist – the stalker/murderer who hates women, thanks to a childhood incident – and the protagonist, an outspoken reporter trapped in a hospital and waiting to be attacked.

The film is leisurely paced and takes a while to get going, and there are a lot of sub-plots getting in the way before we get to the conclusion. Despite this, the production values are good and the script realistic. Although the film does contain its fair share of clichés and predictable moments, it always feels more realistic and more horrible than most in the genre. In some ways it feels like a less-weird David Cronenberg movie, with the almost clinical detachment from the action; maybe it's just some vibe that Canadian horror movies possess.

The film's success is mainly a result of the casting. Without Michael Ironside, I can't imagine this film being half as good. In a mostly silent performance, Ironside creates a totally cold, ruthless, and downright frightening personality, a maladjusted killer who has great intelligence but a corrupted mind. Ironside is fantastic. I always admire the actor and his performances but here he just goes off the board with his subdued portrayal. Far better than hammy Anthony Hopkins and his Hannibal Lector and Kevin Spacey and his clever-clever killer. In fact I would consider this Ironside's finest moment.

The rest of the cast are adequate but can't match Ironside. Lee Grant is an unusual choice as the female lead but she makes a pretty good job of it and at least proves to be something more than the blonde bimbo. William Shatner lurks around the sidelines but doesn't get to do anything, worse luck. The various stalking sequences are very atmospheric and suspenseful and the final cat-and-mouse chase in the hospital is up there with the best of them. It's just a shame that the cold subject matter and horrific images (Ironside photographing the slowly dying old woman) are too much to handle for some viewers. Get past them and you have a great little film in your hands.

A crazed, women-hating killer (Michael Ironside) attacks journalist Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant). When he discovers that his attack did not kill Deborah, he comes to the hospital to finish what he started.

Is this a good film? Is it a good slasher? Is it a good Canadian slasher? Many people would say no to these, but I think this is a good one just for existing. Of course, I am a pro-slasher horror fan, so it may not take much... but throw in Michael Ironside and William Shatner and how can you go wrong? Director Jean-Claude Lord may not be well known, especially in the world of horror. Not only is he not a horror director primarily, but he is from Quebec, so much of his work is in French! Honestly, I am not even sure if I ever saw anything else he did.