Someone's Watching Me! (1978)

Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton) moves into a beautiful apartment building in LA. She also gets a new job, makes friends with lesbian coworker Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau) and makes a new boyfriend with charming Paul Winkless (David Birney). But she starts getting threatening phone calls and letters by a man who seems to know her every move. Sophie and Paul try to help her but they can't and it seems he's getting more and more dangerous.A good movie for Capenter that's obviously made for TV--there are blackouts every 20 minutes or so. It's not as good as "Halloween" but how could it be? It's more like Hotchcock's "Rear Window" than anything else. It's well-directed by Carpenter with a few nicely placed scenes that will make you jump. The script is very good too with believable characters and a fairly intricate plot. Also it's unusual that Carpenter got a lesbian character in the movie. There's nothing wrong with that at all--it was just a fairly gutsy move for a 1978 TV movie. Hutton is surprisingly very good in her role. You slowly see her character crumble under the pressure. Barbeau is also excellent in her role. Only Birney is off--he seems a little uncomfortable in his role. Still this is a good suspense film from Carpenter. Well worth catching.

"Someone's Watching Me" is practically always described as a "Hitchcockian" thriller. This is of course a quite superficial and even remotely hypocrite way to label a film. Whenever an acclaimed director revolves a thriller on themes that were largely introduced by Alfred Hitchcock, the critics are tempted to mildly review the film as a "Hitchcockian" thriller, yet when an unknown director does the same, his/her effort is likely to get categorized as a weak attempt to imitate the legendary filmmaker. John Carpenter had just scored big hits with "Halloween" and "Assault on Precinct 13", so consequently his TV-produced variation on "Rear Window" was bound to fall into the first category. By stating this, I certainly don't intend claiming "Someone's Watching Me" is a bad film, mind you, but it's definitely a bit overrated and inarguably routine. The basic plot and structure are just too simplistic and derivative and, since Carpenter still isn't on par with Alfred "the master of suspense" Hitchcock himself, he doesn't manage to turn this into a highly memorable film. The film benefices from a handful of genuinely suspenseful moments as well as a steady pacing, but specifically in order to maintain the pacing, the script makes a couple of implausible (on the verge of absurd, even) twists and turns. "Someone's Watching Me" introduces Leigh Michaels, a lady in her late twenties with a peculiar habit of making bad jokes and the even more irritating habit of continuously talking and singing to herself, who just migrated from New York to Los Angeles and moved into a fairly luxurious apartment block with a view all over the city. She accepts a great job, makes a few friends (Adrienne Barbeau as a lesbian) and everything goes well until some pervert spots her through a telescope from the building across the street. He must really fancy women with a giant gap between their front teeth, as Leigh unendingly receives strange phone calls, expensive gifts from a fictional company and unsettling remarks about her behavior and the places she visited. The poor girl slowly loses her sanity and, since the police can't interfere until something tragic happens, she and her newfound friends eventually start an investigation of their own. Carpenter's attempt to deliver a suspense-driven TV-thriller is admirable, but the material is too minimal to fill up nearly 100 minutes of running time and some of the invisible villain's methods are just too grotesque. Come on, which deranged stalker would be willing to spend a remarkable sum of money to buy his victim expensive gifts (from a fake company with its own letterhead!) or go through so much effort to falsely accuse another tenant? The eventual denouement and unmasking of the culprit is far too improbable as well. Also, and rather obvious since it concerns a TV-production, the film severely lacks action and bloodshed. If only Carpenter was able to invite the protagonist from his previous film, Michael Myers, to join the party! Imagine what would happen! Surely it would take Michael quite a while to reach the penthouse, but once he's unleashed the stalker would regret the day of his birth!

while i admit there is lots of tension in this movie,it's almost too much.the problem i found is that(to me at least)the movie keeps building to a climax which is less exciting than the rest of the movie.there is one pretty thrilling moment in the movie,but for me,that's about it.this is by no means a bad movie.in fact,think it was very well done and the acting is top rate.i just felt it was too drawn out.this is John carpenter's third picture,and was intended for the big screen at one point.but somewhere along the line,it was decided to make it into a TV movie.it's not overly violent and certainly not very graphic.even though i thought the movie was drawn out,it was still entertaining enough o watch until the end.if you don't mind a really slow build up,you will probably enjoy this one.by the way,this movie also available as part of the Twisted Terror collection,which also includes five other horror movies.anyway,for me,Someone's Watching Me is a 6/10

While feature films became a staple of 1970s TV - think "Brian's Song" and "Sybil" - few were like John Carpenter's "Someone's Watching Me!". The story is quite familiar: a woman (Lauren Hutton) moves into an apartment, starts getting strange phone calls, and eventually realizes that there's a peeping tom in the vicinity. As this is a TV movie, there are unfortunately some things that we don't get to see (namely Lauren Hutton naked), and the spots where they obviously had commercial breaks gives the movie a slight feeling of silliness. But the really neat factor springs from the clear homage to other kinds of horror flicks: the voyeurism scenes look like a "Psycho" reference.As for the cast, Lauren Hutton easily looks vulnerable enough, but I can't figure out why the characters in these movies take threatening phone calls in stride; I would have immediately suspected that something was amiss. You can see Adrienne Barbeau getting primed for the other kinds of between-A-and-B-movies in which she would later star.So, it's mostly your average suspense movie, but certainly one that you'll enjoy. And just be suspicious the next time that your lights start flickering.