Monday, April 16, 2012

Peeping Tom - Michael Powell - 1960



Last night I went and saw The Cabin in the Woods a film that comments on genre cliches and the filmmaking process in a very fun and enjoyable way (I recommend it). So I thought I would post a recommendation for a film that has similar commentary but presents it in a dark and terrifying way.

Peeping Tom follows a young loner cameraman who turns out to be a serial killer who mounts a knife to his camera and kills women while capturing their terrified final moments. At the time of it's release it was considered garbage and had many people wanting to destroy it. Today, however, it is considered by many to be one of Britain's most interesting films and is considered to be one of the great films on the filmmaking process.

One thing the film comments heavily is the objectification of women in our culture which is commented on heavily throughout the film including an early scene where a young girl walks into a store to buy a candy bar. She is surrounded by images of naked women and is even interrupting a man who is trying to buy pornographic images. She walks in calmly and thinks nothing of the objectified women surrounding her.

The controversy surrounding this film helped Hitchcock re market a similar film that he was about to release, Psycho. In fact many people consider Peeping Tom the British Psycho.

No comments:

Post a Comment