Chad

Trevor

Lots of Criterion films showing up in the subset.

Undeadcow

I enjoyed Peeping Tom; the lead is an effectively creepy but proper person who seems to calculated and altering the perception to one where the villain watches an inept police force is interesting. Turning the camera on the murders is brilliant especially with that opening scene and then how the camera tends to leer over the main character showing seemingly mundane details tied to the crimes. Despite a tendency towards over explanation, usually a peeve of mine, it works well given character study elements. The aged technicolor film look adds a lot. The death scene is oddball and impactful; such a great mix of bizarre and cringe-worth.

omike

I really liked this one. Well made overall and the star, Carl Boehm as Mark, does a great job with both the creepy side of the killer and the more human side. I was surprised at how much sympathy I felt for him as the movie went along. For instance when he dropped all his pens while filming the police from above, during the shot up of the pens falling I was really nervous about how he was going to talk his way out of trouble if he was caught. The killings were intense without the gore we've come to expect. Mark's end was fascinating, showing he knew he would eventually be caught and didn't care as long as he could provide a killer end to his documentary.

jholmes

Great film. I saw it at least 10 years ago and was surprised how little I remembered! (it's sad really).

The backstory for Mark, with his father constantly inducing fear and recording it, was brilliant, story-wise. So horrifying and yet believable. It worked great as an explanation of why Mark was the way he was. I agree with omike, that made the killer sympathetic, which so often in horror films, the killer is little more than a boogey man. Another reason we feel sympathy for the character is because of the way he tried to protect his neighbor and her mother.

The ending, with him filming is own death, was perfect.

Shack

"The morbid urge to gaze."

I was surprised Peeping Tom hadn't been used before as a choice and was happy to watch it again.

Much like Rear Window it interrogates the idea of watching, for the character and of course for the audience. There's not a whole lot of gore, but suspense throughout and I agree that the sympathetic main character is a strength.

I'm a fan of Michael Powell's other films and this one is as beautifully composed as the others, with much different subject matter. Peeping Tom effectively killed Powell's career, sadly.

DaveyJoe

I wonder if this was an inspiration for the Fancis Dolarhyde character in Red Dragon. I couldn't stop thinking about it, even down to the vulnerable love interest serving as a possible redemption from the beast lurking inside. They even had a blindness connection.

Trevor

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was shocked to hear that this film effectively ended the career of one of Britain’s finest directors. Powell’s filmography is full of Criterion-worthy work, and it’s a damn shame that he was relegated to little more than TV work his last decades.

Part of it was probably it featuring the first nudity in British cinema, but I imagine most of the vitriol against him and his film was how it implicated the viewer in the acts of voyeurism and murder.

clckworang

I've seen this film a few times. It has always been a favorite of mine. I decided to listen to the audio commentary for the first time. It was interesting. There was a lot of good information and analysis. My only criticism of it is that it would have been more engaging had it been a little more conversational. Still worth a listen if you want to learn more about this movie and Powell.

I can't believe Criterion hasn't put out a Blu-ray of this. Do they still own the rights? I would love to upgrade my DVD.

clckworang

I don't think it helps that the voyeurism aspect also added an extra element of kink to everything.

Gobear

That Peeping Tom killed Powell's career mystifies me, considering that Alfred Hitchcock had achieved massive success trafficking in the exact same themes. Nudity? Voyeurism? Psycho had both, yet it was a box office smash the same year that Peeping Tom was released.

WillieMLF

It's been over 10 years since I've seen Peeping Tom. Yes, I think the Criterion disk is OOP, but the DVD still looks very nice. I really love the colors in a P&P movie.

I watched it with the commentary and I felt it was really informative. Seems one of the more shocking aspects is that Mark (a serial killer) was really quite sympathetic, and this was a bit more than society and critics could stand.

wishbone

That Helen and her mother along with the audience were privy to Mark's abuse by his father certainly helped with the sympathetic view. Great character performances, a well done film, and definitely a top pick in the subset challenge.

numbercrunch

Classic film. This film is proto-slasher and the first film to really showcase the POV shot most effectively