Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Someone's Watching Me! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson July 24, 2018

During his second year in the film program at USC, John Carpenter made Captain Voyeur (1969), a black-and-white short about a man (donning a WWII era Arctic ski mask) who continually preys on a woman. This seemingly lost student film directed by Carpenter was rediscovered in the USC archives in 2012. When author Murray Leeder asked Carpenter about it, the filmmaker thought it held little value and dissuaded Leeder from watching it. Even if Captain Voyeur shows primitive technical craftsmanship at at embryonic state of a future great director, it would be fascinating to see what initial ideas Carpenter brought to the theme of voyeurism. This certainly runs through the thread of his seventies work, including his script for Irvin Kershner's Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and the relatively unknown television movie, Someone's Watching Me!. The latter was originally titled High Rise (which Carpenter wrote) and was intended for theatrical distribution by Warner Bros. In a 2007 interview included on this disc, Carpenter claims that moguls at Warners considered the material not edgy enough so High Rise was transferred over to the studio's TV division. Working with a union crew for the first time, Carpenter found the studio model valuable. "I was surprised to find I liked it. When I was getting ready to do Someone's Watching Me, they took me around Warner Bros. and showed me all the departments. I couldn't believe it," he told Wayne Warga of The Los Angeles Times. "Purely from a craft standpoint Hollywood is incredible, absolutely incredible."

The telefilm begins with a creepy prologue set in the high-risers of Los Angeles where a sociopath makes a prank call to a woman named Elizabeth living on the opposite side. He also spies on her with an extremely long, phallic-like telescope. The sexy and beautiful TV producer Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton) has moved from New York to the same complex as Elizabeth (the Lovecraftian inspired Arkham Tower Apartments). She recently broke up with her boyfriend and is looking for a fresh start. At her new job as a TV director with the KJHC station downtown, she befriends Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau playing an openly gay woman against conventional stereotypes). Leigh is smart, stubborn, and independent, personifying the Hawksian protagonist that Carpenter intended her to portray. Leigh initiates a bar conversation with Paul Winkless (David Birney), a philosopher who teaches at USC, and the two begin seeing each other. Although things seem to be going well socially for Leigh, she feels encumbered by the "glass box" (as she calls it) in her apartment. Unbeknownst to her, she's under pervasive surveillance by a stalker residing directly across her building. He makes incessant and rude phone calls to her. Leigh also starts receiving anonymous "gifts" from a unregistered outfit called Excursions Unlimited. Is this just a series of pranks or is there someone truly after her?

Someone's Watching Me! is a cross between Hitchcock's Rear Window and Coppola's The Conversation (especially in its use of a taping system). The stalker fanatically records all of Leigh's phone conversations and also plants a bug in her unit. Carpenter tautly directs the picture and encloses both Leigh and the audience within a tight claustrophobic milieu. The telefilm's one weakness is that while Carpenter adroitly prolongs the suspense, he exhausts the plot to the extent that the viewer seems one step of Leigh. A couple of her character's (lack of) actions are noticeable. Carpenter throws some red herrings in about reveling the perpetrator's real identity but in retrospect, there's some inconsistencies about the killer's physical characteristics after we've finally found out what he looks like. (This could be a product of stunt doubles used for the character.) Other than these quibbles, the narrative of Someone's Watching Me! kept me enraptured and spellbound to its hair-raising climax. *Note: if you listen closely to the stalker impersonating a female voice when he calls KJHC-TV asking for Leigh, it sounds just like Nancy Loomis (and perhaps it was!).

Someone's Watching Me! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Someone's Watching Me! was first aired on NBC on November 22, 1978. This BD-50 courtesy of Shout! Factory's Scream division allows viewers to watch it by choosing from either the 1.33:1 broadcast ratio or a matted 1.85:1 widescreen presentation. (See Screenshot #24: when the chosen format is selected, the thumbnail will display in color.) On the cover's inner print, Shout states: "This new 2018 high-definition transfer was created in 2K resolution at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging on the Lasergraphics Directors scanner from an archival interpositive. Colorist: Steve Peer/Fotokem; Restoration: Duplitech." Transfers on both aspect ratio presentations look vastly superior to last year's Blu-ray release of The Spell (1977). I can also vouch for measurable improvements compared to the 2007 Warner Bros. DVD of Someone's Watching Me! that was part of the label's "Twisted Terror Collection." I have incorporated some direct comparisons between both editions. While Warner's 1.78:1 presentation shows incrementally more picture information on all four sides, the image is softer with hues less defined. Colors are also drab with a hazy appearance. The standard definition also reveals more debris and artifacts. By sharp contrast, Shout!'s has a warmer color palette. It also boasts inky blacks. There is a very small amount of print damage. My video score is 4.75. Both transfers are encoded using MPEG-4 and carry average video bitrates of 24996 kbps while the standard total bitrates reach 28.46 Mbps.

On the Blu-ray, the 1.33:1 framing is preferable for close-ups and medium shots. Although Carpenter and his cinematographer Robert Hauser were presumably shooting just for TV, there are a number of widescreen compositions that you can appreciate in 1.85:1. I have alternated between full- and widescreen framings for the screenshots.

Screenshots 1-17 = 2018 Shout! Factory Blu-ray Matted 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 Compositions
Screenshots 18, 20, & 22 = 2007 Warner Home Video DVD 1.78:1 Compositions
Screenshots 19, 21, & 23 = 2018 Shout! Factory Blu-ray Reformatted 1.85:1 Compositions

The Blu-ray comes with twelve chapter markers. (The Warner disc had a whopping twenty-seven scene selections.)

Someone's Watching Me! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! supplies the original monaural sound track, rendered here as a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1675 kbps, 24-bit). The master is in solid condition with no conspicuous defects. The recording definitely shows its age with audible hiss that limits dialogue in the foreground. I needed to have the volume up and would recommend switching on the optional English subtitles to fully comprehend the actors' lines. John Carpenter did not compose the score. The music was left to Harry Sukman, whom Carpenter worked with on spotting cues to the picture. Sukman came up with a Herrmann-esque tune for the main titles which musically mimics the main theme from North by Northwest. (The title design was inspired by Saul Bass.) Sukman's score is all about atmosphere and serves as a fine compliment to the chills on screen.

Someone's Watching Me! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary With Author Amanda Reyes (Are You In The House Alone?: A TV Movie Compendium 1964-1999) - in the future, Reyes needs to stick to her script as she rambles through this feature-length track with a lot of ahs and ums. She provides a bevy of factoids and nuggets about Carpenter, the actors, other TV movies of the period, Laura Mulvey and the male gaze, et al. The problem is she can get so caught up in a shot or scene that she'll try to comment on a different aspect than what's she speaking about at the moment. Her several digressions indicate that she needs to focus more on timing. Still, this is an informative listen and I'm glad that Shout! asked her to record this audio essay. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Adrienne Barbeau: Looking Back at Someone's Watching Me! (10:32, 1080p) - Carpenter's first wife recalls how the California filmmaker saw her in Maude (1972-78) (leading to her casting in this telefilm), how Carpenter directed her in Someone's Watching Me!, and how her lesbian character Sophie bucked a trend. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Carpenter's Enforcer – An Interview With Charles Cyphers on His Career in John Carpenter's Films (9:43, 1080p) - an unrecognizable Charles Cyphers reminisces on his casting audition on Assault on Precinct 13 as well as the combined eight feature and TV movies that he's done with Carpenter. Cypher proclaims that he'd be interested in reprising his role as Sheriff Brackett on a future Halloween if Carpenter calls. This interview seems trimmed as there are several quick fades to the next snippet. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Horror's Hallowed Grounds – A Look at the Film's Locations Today (7:12, 1080p) - another featurette revisiting original filming locations hosted by Sean Clark, who guides viewers to several LA venues where Someone's Watching Me! was shot. In English, not subtitled.

• John Carpenter: Director Rising (6:14, upconverted to 1080i) - a brief interview with Carpenter that's carried over from the 2007 Warner DVD. Carpenter explains this TV movie's origins, his favorable impressions of Lauren Hutton's acting, and working at the Warner Bros. lot. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW TV Promos (1:01, upconverted to 1080p) - two TV spots (including a teaser) advertising Someone's Watching Me!.

• NEW Still Gallery (1:19, 1080p) - a brief slide show made up of seventeen images: black-and-white photos from the Warner press kit, production stills (in color), and foreign VHS covers of Someone's Watching Me! depicting some erotic artwork.

Someone's Watching Me! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While production on Someone's Watching Me! wrapped two weeks prior to Carpenter starting work on Halloween, the TV movie actually aired a month after the boogeyman slasher classic first hit theaters. It is my projection that if Warner had waited on where to exhibit Someone's Watching Me! and saw the returns coming in for Halloween, the former certainly would have deserved to be shown in theaters. Shout! Factory has produced a deluxe edition that's one to savor. It sports a minted 2K scan of the original film elements that's presented in two aspect ratios. Shout! has also gone out of its way to record an above-average commentary with Amanda Reyes and two very good interviews with Adrienne Barbeau and Charles Cyphers. This package comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and is an ABSOLUTE MUST BUY for Carpenter fans.