Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 4 out of 5
Worth a peek
Humorist Matt Groening once defined one of the characteristics of a "true" film buff as "...someone who has opinions about movies they have never seen." After reading about Michael Powell’’s "Peeping Tom" for years, but never seeing it on the bill at a revival house, nor on TV, cable or video, I was beginning to wonder if Martin Scorcese was halluncinating when he "saw" it! Well, Marty’’s sanity is no longer in question with the Criterion Collection’’s DVD release in hand. "Peeping Tom", which famously opened and closed the same week in Great Britain, proves to be quite a prescient work. Actor Karl Boehm brings a disquieting Peter Lorre vibe to his soft-spoken serial killer Mark, a focus puller by day and "documentary" maker (of sorts) by night. Mark’’s little "indie film" project concerns a subject he is quite intimate with-a string of unsolved murders, all involving sexually alluring young women. You can detect a bit of "Peeping Tom" influence in 1966’’s "Blow-Up", 1985’’s controversial "Henry:Portrait of A Serial Killer", and even as recently as the 2002 Bob Crane biopic "Auto Focus". Criterion does a good job with the transfer (I’’m assuming..some of us are deliriously happy just to finally get to SEE, much less own, an existing print of this legendary film, period!), and also features an interesting 1997 BBC documentary about the movie. A must-see for film noir fans and cult movie conisseurs. Rated 3 out of 5
Pioneering psychological horror is still effective
Written by Leo Parks, PEEPING TOM remains director Michael Powell’’s most famous (or infamous, for that matter) film, which was overshadowed at its time of release by Hitchcock’’s PSYCHO and reviled by critics for being too sensational.
German actor Carl Boehm plays Mark, the psychopathic "Peeping Tom" of the title. Mark is a video photography buff who films his victims in their death throes because he likes seeing the fear in their eyes (The sad result of a traumatic childhood experience in which his scientist father would drop a lizard on him and film his fear as part of his experiments. Nice guy. Director Powell plays his father in the flashback sequence). But then a funny thing happens to Mark: he falls in love with Helen (Moira Shearer)one of his models/intended victims; and tries to keep the object of his affection from making him film her, because Mark automatically equates film and photography with pain and death. (His camera tripod has an extendable blade which he plunges into the throats of his victims).
Boehm gives a performance which is simultaneously naive and frightening.
Years ahead of its time, PEEPING TOM remains one of the most chilling British films ever lensed. While rather tame by today’’s standards its cult status is assured and there’’s no denying the influence it had on later films like REPULSION, FADE TO BLACK and HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. This pioneering movie is still of interest to horror fans and movie buffs. Will make you think twice before having your next family photo taken.
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