I'm remiss to say that last week was the first time I'd ever seen Peeping Tom. As a horror fan, I'd heard about it incessantly throughout the years, but the opportunity to see it never came up. I finally sought it out and I'm not sure if the hype ruined it for me or what, but I found the whole thing a bit underwhelming.
Putting Peeping Tom into the context of the time in which it was made, it's easy to see why it was so controversial. Unlike Psycho, it was shot in color which makes everything more realistic and lurid with the bright red blood really popping off the screen and Peeping Tom even has the added bonus of some light nudity here and there, which I'm sure is what really got it in trouble with the censors.
The film is about your typical, semi-handsome loner who is the landlord for his childhood home which has been converted into apartments. He stays upstairs, watching his home movies that he shoots of him killing random women, focusing on their horrified faces at the moment of impact. Things take a turn when he starts to fall for a young boarder, but will her blind mother cause them some problems?
The main issue I had with Peeping Tom is that the lead character isn't terribly interesting. He's not a charismatic psycho like, say, Norman Bates. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the acting, but it kept me from getting too invested in his plight. Since he's rarely off screen, this was a bit of an issue for me.
It's also a bit on the slower side, pacing wise, and I found myself drifting in and out. It's still worth seeing and the cinematography is outstanding.
Putting Peeping Tom into the context of the time in which it was made, it's easy to see why it was so controversial. Unlike Psycho, it was shot in color which makes everything more realistic and lurid with the bright red blood really popping off the screen and Peeping Tom even has the added bonus of some light nudity here and there, which I'm sure is what really got it in trouble with the censors.
The film is about your typical, semi-handsome loner who is the landlord for his childhood home which has been converted into apartments. He stays upstairs, watching his home movies that he shoots of him killing random women, focusing on their horrified faces at the moment of impact. Things take a turn when he starts to fall for a young boarder, but will her blind mother cause them some problems?
The main issue I had with Peeping Tom is that the lead character isn't terribly interesting. He's not a charismatic psycho like, say, Norman Bates. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the acting, but it kept me from getting too invested in his plight. Since he's rarely off screen, this was a bit of an issue for me.
It's also a bit on the slower side, pacing wise, and I found myself drifting in and out. It's still worth seeing and the cinematography is outstanding.