Peeping Tom

This was my second viewing of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, a 1960 English psychological horror film, starring Karl Boehm as the deeply disturbed young serial killer. I must admit that, like Powell’s Red Shoes (see below) this one also does very little for me. It was loathed on first release, being far too frightening and confrontational for the audiences of the day. It has long since lost its capacity to frighten and shock, which is of course more a comment on how we have become hardened to violence and terror, rather than a comment on the film. However, I’m afraid that without real tension the film is somewhat watery. It has admittedly a very clever premise i.e. that in watching something happen the voyeur is perhaps as guilty as the actual perpetrator of an act. It raises all sorts of interesting questions around the blurring of the line between viewer, actors and film makers. It portrays the role of the film director in an interesting and indeed somewhat sinister way. Trouble is that it is not very gripping and at the same time somewhat depressing, so, all in, not much fun to watch.