The second of the two films is Peeping Tom by Michael Powell. A film that when released was seen as a perverted film, a macabre story only to satisfy the truly disturbed viewer.
I found the film to be rather boring at times with a main character that is easily forgettable however the film is an inspiration in the sense that it unabashedly flaunts the pleasure in watching to gain sexual gratification from the perspective of a killer and then from us as the audience… how much do we like to watch? How much do we need to see?
Voyeurism is such a rich tapestry to play with in film for the obvious, you are in fact watching. I found that trying to incorporate it into a film as a theme adds a whole new dimension to a film in terms of studying it and breaking a film down. It literally speaks to you as the viewer; about what you are viewing… is it right or wrong? Black or white? Left or right? It challenges you to think about what you are watching.
This film is remarkable in taking you into the viewing room of a snuff film and although you may not be doing the killing how innocent do you think you are by merely just watching?
This film was not necessarily trying to introduce the mainstream market to the dark underground world of Snuff movies but take the audience on a new journey of horror, a sort of study on the sexual gratification a voyeur might get from watching and in this film the Peeping Tom so happens to get a little hard in the pants from watching fear on a woman’s face. The movie is so multi faceted in the psychology behind a killer with a sick fetish for recording and then viewing fear and feels years ahead of its time. It would only find the audience it deserves years later once poor Michael Powell’s career as a filmmaker is totally crippled without any hope of recovery.
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