Exhumed: Tom Hanks in "He Knows You’re Alone" (1980)

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In their “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike normally give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. However, “Exhumed” will focus on the first (or very early) credits of established actors, giving their roles the GBV treatment.

For this installment, it’s Tom Hanks. .

Intro

He Knows You’re Alone is a serviceable entry in the slasher roll call, but some slack needs to be given as its 1980 release date puts in it clearly in the early days of the horror movie sub-genre. It’s a bit predictable at times which isn’t helped by the fact that there’s no mystery as to who the killer is, but there are some fun and creepy moments that offset those quibbles. But we’re not really here to look at the GOOD and the BAD of He Knows You’re Alone as we normally might, no sir – we’re here to take a look at and examine Tom Hanks in his first credited role.

The Details

In He Knows You’re Alone, Hanks plays Elliot, a guy that Amy (the lead character) and her best friend Nancy meet while out jogging. Aside from that quick appearance, we get about five minutes of Elliot as he, Nancy, Amy and Amy’s little sister wait in line for a ride at a rubbish carnival. Amy starts talking about how she’s afraid that some dude is stalking her (he is). At this point, it becomes Tom’s movie. Still greener than a beautiful lawn, Hanks out acts the rest of the group as he practices a little armchair psychology and gets all meta by explaining to the girls about horror and why we like to be scared. He then tells Amy that this stalker is a figment of her imagination because she only sees him when she is alone. Turns out Elliot is taking Psych 101, so obviously he’s an expert. After the ride is over, Elliot and Nancy run off, leaving Amy and her kid sister behind (because nobody likes a third wheel and a tween tagalong).

We never see Elliot again.

However, we SHOULD have. There was a scene that had Elliot getting offed, but those few minutes on screen were enough for a test audience to apparently fall so madly in love with Hanks that they freaked out when he was killed which ended up in the producers having his death scene removed from the movie.

The Verdict

Fans of Hanks owe it to themselves to check out his first role. While his on-screen time is maybe five minutes, his charm and charisma are on display. Follow this up with something like Philadelphia or The Green Mile to see how much he’s grown as an actor while retaining that x-factor that was on display in his first role.

He Knows You're Alone