"He's controlling all of us now"

Surprised to see Uncle Leo make an appearance.

Cops are the most useless motherfuckers on the planet and Carpenter really drills it in just how goddamn useless they are in this.

Made for tv movies get dismissed far too often which is a shame since a lot of them are excellent. Someone's Watching Me! is a great example of taking Hitchcock influence merging it into tv thrills and suspense with a John Carpenter edge.

The set up here is spectacular, a new life in an unfamiliar setting all alone in a gigantic high tech for the times apartment metropolis. Everything is supposed to be grand, starting fresh with an exhilarating positivity.... until the phone calls, odd gifts and invasion of privacy come in and that voice on the phone plagues your every waking moment and even your sleep. Anxiety, paranoia, stress and fear are all running on high, the threat is near but it's nowhere to be seen and nobody is willing to help.

This is so good at creating an overpowering isolation even with our main character being surrounded by people and by the time it reaches its climax the build up of tension and menacing peeping tom teasing has you feeling like you're going to burst. Hell even my privacy started feeling invaded. Lauren Hutton is so convincing in her role it adds that extra touch to it all that sets the unease over the edge.

A lot of great camerawork in this. Some amazing shots of night time cityscapes and views through the invading telescopic lense along with Carpenter and his cinematographer knowing how to utilize the hell out of the small apartment. Love the large window in her apartment that is always giving a view of the hundreds of rooms across the street where our psycho could be lurking inside any one of them.

This should not be overlooked.