Synopsis
All those windows… and he’s behind one of them!
A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.
A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.
High Rise, Kimsə Məni İzləyir, 怪客逞凶, 有人看我, Das unsichtbare Auge, Pericolo in agguato, Meurtre au 43e étage, ¡Alguien me está espiando!, Valaki figyel, Кто-то наблюдает за мной!, ¡Alguien me vigila!, Ktoś mnie obserwuje, Alguém Me Vigia, Vainoavat silmät, 욕망의 불꽃, Biri Beni İzliyor, Alguém anda a espiar-me
I’m a big fan of 70’s made for TV movies of the Horror/Thriller variety and it’s fun to see Carpenter go all De Palma with the Hitchcock influences. A neat little tension yarn with some effective moments, plus Charles Cyphers and Adrienne Barbeau so naturally I’d be all in on this but I can’t help but wonder how this would have turned out without Television Network restrictions.
Solid little movie, not a game changer but it gets the job done!
Lauren Hutton is among the very best of 1970's Horror Heroines as Leigh Michaels. She is smart, funny, eccentric, completely capable, someone who it is a pleasure to follow around as she moves in, gets a job, hangs out with a co-worker (Adrienne Barbeau!!!), picks up a man, etc., until the constant pressure and stress of sustained electronic sexual harassment and surveillance begins to wear down her very person, until being treated as an object, being put into the position of objecthood by someone claiming the subject position over her, begins to destroy her capacity to live, to be. For Leigh, the irony and the horror is compounded by the fact that in her day job, she directs live TV,…
shocktober 2016 #3
this should be used as an example when we talk about how men can make feminist/female-friendly films. lauren hutton is a tough-as-nails tv director who, after moving to la from nyc (with some kind of ptsd, it seems), gets stalked by an unknown man. hutton basically saves herself, especially when no one will believe her. one of the most feminist things about the film is how carpenter understands how men don't believe women's fears and women's experiences, and how other men use that disbelief to their advantage. hutton's stalker even taunts her bu leaving her a note in her shower's steam: NO ONE BELIEVES YOU. so, she has to take care of it on her own.
plus,…
“Rape is when a man consciously keeps a woman in fear.”
- Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau) as the best friend/co-worker of Lauren Hutton’s wry, determined live TV director, Leigh Michaels, who moves from New York to LA at the top of the film.
A cop: “Not until he does something.”
Our lead: “Rape? Murder?!”
I am going to be thinking about this film for a long, long time. This early career work demonstrates my beloved KING, John Carpenter, at his most empathetic. Someone’s Watching Me! is a remarkably perceptive film about gendered animosity, how women must navigate the patriarchy to survive and the ways regular men provide cover for the most heinous amongst them by refusing to believe a woman about…
Una de las razones por las que quise ver esta película fue porque me parecía interesante su premisa. El gran problema con Someone’s Watching Me! es que se queda en eso, en una buena idea que jamás termina por explotar. La película no es per se mala, pero vaya que es repetitiva y aburrida. Cuando llega el clímax y la resolución del misterio, uno ya está tan cansado de esta historia, que te importa un bledo quién es el villano, quién gana y quién pierde. A mi, al menos, me pasó así.
Como elementos positivos podría destacar la actuación de Lauren Hutton, que lo da todo y más en pantalla, y también la bso, que aporta mucho a las escenas de suspenso. Carpenter hace un buen trabajo en la dirección, por lo demás, nada sobresaliente, pero efectiva para lo que se quería contar aquí.
Lástima que no me haya convencido cómo esperaba…
A Week Of Carpenter 🎬 ☎️ 🎃
What a surprise this “lost Carpenter” film was!
Whispered for years but never seen until Criterion put it on their service, a Made-For-TV movie that came out in the same year as HALLOWEEN that feels like a 70’s TV movie, from the font to the lighting and sound, but holy shit was it incredibly effective.
And considering how many times I’ve seen HALLOWEEN and the scares have waned a bit, there’s some LEGIT scares and jumps in this film that completely got me…for a TV movie!
Clearly this director is gonna go on and make some cool stuff!
Lauren Hutton and Adrienne Barbeau are very good (and the latter being implied as Queer feels pretty progressive even if it puts…
A fun made for TV thriller from John Carpenter. It doesn’t really break any new ground, but the cast is all likable and the tense moments are very effective.
I had completely forgotten that Queen Adrienne Barbeau plays an out lesbian in this so that alone makes it a must watch. The nods to Hitchcock are also pretty great.
The opening credits are some peak late 70’s goodness.
The fact that this doesn’t even come close to looking or feeling like a made-for-tv movie, just goes to show how masterful John Carpenter really is behind the camera. Even in the early stages of his career, the man was consistently proving that even the simplest of ideas could succeed as solid entertainment when executed with enough innovation and style. The only thing overshadowing this nifty little stalk-fest from shining as bright as the director’s more prominent works like ‘Halloween’ is its limited production values, but by tipping its hat towards classic thrillers like Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ and using the irresistible beauty and talents of Lauren Hutton, it’s still a damn fun time that showcases Carpenter’s visual signature inside the realms of network television.
Are you tormented by unwanted phone calls? Do you sense something or someone lurking in the shadows? Do you feel anxious and paranoid? Congratulations! You just might be in a John Carpenter movie.
John Carpenter's "lost" film; a made for TV thriller shot before his blockbuster hit Halloween and released after it. Someone's Watching Me takes huge influence from Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window specifically, and focuses on a high rise dwelling female TV director, who begins being menaced by a seemingly omnipotent stranger who seems to know her every move. It's a simple premise, but very well executed; Carpenter really elevates it beyond It's TV movie limitations. Much of the film takes place in and around the central apartment block. All the focus is on the lead character, who is very well brought to life by Lauren Hutton, while the antagonist remains in the shadows. This creates a real sense of claustrophobia as…
I always feel like somebody's watchin' me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like somebody's watchin' me
Is it just a dream? 🎶👀
Really like this stalking flick from John Carpenter.
Even for today's standards, it has some really creepy scenes, what wouldn't surprise me, that something like that easily could happen in real life.