Armand Mastroianni’s 1980 “He Knows You’re Alone” might have borrowed a number of shots from John Carpenter’s 1978 film “Halloween.” It might have drawn from that movie’s score, and it might have conceived of its unstoppable villain in a similar way.
But it doesn’t deserve to be left in the margins of the ’80s slasher movie boom, especially given that it isn’t a lesser entry in the genre.Despite the movie being a decent-sized hit at the time of its release, grossing nearly $5 million per BoxOfficeMojo, it has largely been forgotten, outside of an early Tom Hanks appearance as a jogger.
Compared to the best-known entries in the slasher subgenre of horror, there wasn’t any kind of easy iconography to get absorbed into mainstream pop culture.
Its relatively low budget means that there’s fairly limited coverage and occasional bits of technical cost-cutting.
But there’s a strong sense of dread throughout,…
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