Director – John Carpenter (Prince of Darkness, The Fog)
Starring – Lauren Hutton (Once Bitten, Faerie Tale Theatre), David Birney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Twilight Zone), and Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing, Escape from New York)
Release Date – 1978
Rating – 3.5/5
Blu Release – 3.5/5
This year I’ve watched several John Carpenter flicks that I had never seen before. Most of his films I had seen I was a fan of. Sure, Halloween is played out at this point but The Fog, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Thing are classics but he has done several more that I had never seen.
Sometime ago Scream Factory released the 1978 made for T.V. movie Someone’s Watching Me!. This movie often goes unnoticed by Carpenter fans because it was a made for T.V. horror affair and it doesn’t help matters that it was released the same year as Carpenter’s titan Halloween. Sometime back Scream Factory released the film on blu and was kind enough to send a copy my way. I’m glad they did because I really enjoyed it.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows Leigh (Hutton) who moves into a modern apartment in L.A. and gets a new job at a cable station as a director for a cooking show. She meets Sophie (Barbeau) and the two become great friends and then becomes romantically involved with Paul (Birney). Life starts to look up for Leigh and when everything seems perfect she starts to receive strange phone calls and receive strange letters and gifts from an unknown man who seems to have access to her apartment. The police refuses to do anything at first because he did not threaten her but when he kills Sophie she takes matters in her own hands and tracks the killer down to bring him to justice.**Spoiler Alert**
The late 70s saw a few made for television movies that would go on to gain a cult following over the years. The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t, Someone’s Watching Me!, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and Salem’s Lot just to name a few. These films have their own faults but they still work for what they are. Someone’s Watching Me takes the stalking thriller sub-genre and makes it feel more like a mystery rather than tension which made it enjoyable.
The acting in this one is damn near perfect. Lauren Hutton is an actress I’m all too familiar with after I discovered and fell in love with Once Bitten. She is great in that one but she is phenomenal in this. Her character may rub the viewer the wrong way at first but as the film progresses she will draw you in. Her emotions feel genuine and she carries the film. Living legend Adrienne Barbeau delivers a fantastic performance as well but she is not in the film as much as most horror fans would like. Her character is secondary and Carpenter treats her as such.
The story for this one is another entry in the stalker/stalking sub-genre that was extremely popular with the age of the home telephone. Receiving menacing phone calls as always made people’s skin crawl but this movie takes that up a notch and have the stalker have access to the target’s home. The story is very calculating but dated. You really have to consider that the movie was filmed in 1978 or it comes across as extremely silly. I enjoyed the movie and the story really held my attention.
Finally, if you want blood and gore you won’t find it here. Television in the late 70s was not the place to see blood or gore. The movie focuses heavily on the characters which works. Overall, Someone’s Watching Me! may not be the film Halloween is but it just proves that Carpenter rightfully deserves the title of master of horror. The film is highly entertaining and the blu from Scream Factory looks amazing. Check it out as soon as possible!
Special Features:
NEW 2K scan from the original film elements – in both 1.85:1 and 1.33:1 aspect ratios
NEW audio commentary with author Amanda Reyes (Are You in the House Alone?: A TV Movie Compendium 1964-1999)
NEW Adrienne Barbeau: Looking Back at Someone’s Watching Me
NEW Carpenter’s Enforcer – an interview with Charles Cyphers on his career in John Carpenter’s films
NEW Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – a look at the film’s locations today
John Carpenter: Director Rising
TV Promo
Still Gallery
