Peeping Tom (1960)

	Directed by: Michael Powell	COUNTRY UK GENRE Psychological horror NORWEGIAN TITLE Peeping Tom – en tyvtitter RUNNING TIME 101 minutes
	Produced by: Michael Powell
	Written by: Leo Marks

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Mark Lewis	Karlheinz Böhm
Vivian	Moira Shearer	-
Helen Stephens	Anna Massey
Mrs. Stephens	Maxine Audley	½
Det. Sgt. Miller	Nigel Davenport	-

Review

This British psychological horror film directed by Michael Powell has been reappraised as groundbreaking by critics and audiences in recent decades despite failing miserably upon release. It has even been likened to Hitchcock's works from the same period, but Peeping Tom desperately lacks both the nerve and the playfulness of the master of suspense's films. Though the psychology of the protagonist has layers, touching on aspects ranging from voyeurism and Freudianism to sadism and sexual repression, the psychology of his victims is banal and underwhelming. The exploration of their fear, which is so central to the film's thematic core, comes off as clichéd and too grounded in antiquated horror traditions, and Powell's direction in these segments is rather clumsy. The lead is played by German actor Karlheinz Böhm, who has the required sensitivity but whose obvious German accent quickly becomes a distraction that is never accounted for.