6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Lauren Hutton stars as stylish career girl Leigh Michaels, who lives in an ultra-modern, glassed-in high rise apartment. Leigh's relatively tranquil existence is shattered when she begins receiving disturbing phone calls -- and ostentatious gifts -- from a man living in the high-rise next to hers. Despite the increasingly threatening tone of her mystery caller, Leigh is unable to get any help from the police, simply because there's no real evidence that she's in danger.
Starring: Lauren Hutton, David Birney, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers, Grainger HinesHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 2% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1, 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
DTS-HD MA: 1675 kbps
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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! 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.)
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.
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.
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