Someone's Watching Me! (1978 TV Movie) User Reviews

Fantastic homage to the likes of Argento and Hitchcock

[ODDBear · 8/10 · 13 September 2004]

I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled on to this movie at a local video store in Iceland. It had subtitles and everything. What a find! As many of you know, this is the "lost" John Carpenter movie, and it's nothing short of fantastic. It plays like an homage to the likes of Dario Argento and Alfred Hitchcock, although the Hitchcock influences are more apparent here.

Lauren Hutton moves into a fancy apartment building and starts receiving mysterious phone calls and presents. And we, as the audience, know that this stalker lives in the building across from hers and that he's watching her every move.

Although not much actually happens here, the film's gradual buildup to a terrifying finale is nothing short of brilliant, orchestrated by a very fresh John Carpenter at the height of his creativity.

The cinematography (especially the POV's) makes one think of Dario Argento but the atmosphere (and storyline) reeks of Hitchcock. John Carpenter has admitted to the fact of having been inspired by both.

I strongly recommend this film. If you can locate it, that is.

Packed with tension.

[Oliver_Lenhardt · 8/10 · 31 December 2002]

John Carpenter's SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME! is an undisguised homage to REAR WINDOW, with nods to BLACK CHRISTMAS (an avowed favourite of Carpenter's) and the Italian Giallo genre, specifically Argento's DEEP RED. One elaborate scene, wherein the anxious heroine drops a knife through a grate, and then squeezes laboriously into the crawlspace beneath to hide, is a clear riff on giallo scenography.

The material is stale, but the execution is not. Carpenter's virtuoso use of gliding camera shots, shadow detail, composition, and mise en scene, ratchets up the suspense even during what would otherwise be incidental scenes in another director's hands. On occasion, TV-movie limpness creeps in momentarily, but, in the main, the picture's production is very professionally handled.

One major irritant is Lauren Hutton's protagonist, Leigh. She is endlessly spunky, constantly talking to herself, always rushing headlong into situations. It's grating right from the start, but as events unfold, her happy-go-lucky ebullience morphs (in the viewers' eyes) into a kind of blithe stupidity. Most thinking people would have closed their curtains, locked their doors, taken the prank calls more seriously, or perhaps moved away (pride be damned), much sooner than did she. Certainly most people wouldn't have walked knowingly into the stalker's trap, as Leigh does at the very end. "Someone's Watching Me" is nerve-wracking enough for one to suspend one's incredulity, and good enough to belong in, or just below, the rarefied sphere of Carpenter's two best, HALLOWEEN and THE THING.

Great!

[Bob-376 · 15 May 2002]

An early TV movie by director John Carpenter about Lauren Hutton who's being stalked in her apartment, you know the sort of thing. This is pretty good actually and it still plays well today. Definately one of my favorites, Halloween was made shortly after, I think.

Night Terror

[Lechuguilla · 7/10 · 18 November 2013]

From the get-go this is one scary film. The daytime skyline of L.A. dissolves to nighttime accompanied by spooky music. Then, inside some room, a man's hand turns on a tape recorder and dials a telephone number. He wheels around a telescope pointed toward the window of his female target, Leigh (Lauren Hutton). After a brief vocal exchange, the man tells her: "Come to the window; all those windows out there; and I'm behind one of them".

So begins "Someone's Watching Me", a suspenseful thriller about an attractive female TV broadcaster stalked by an unknown man. One of the scariest sequences has Leigh coming back to her high rise apartment and finding the front door unlocked. She calls the manager who tells her that although maintenance men were in her apartment earlier he personally locked it behind them. She sounds innocently skeptical. As the camera slowly pans around to the living room behind Leigh, a man suddenly and silently darts across the living room carpet ...

Suspense is heightened by the fact that Leigh lives alone, and by the fact that much of the plot takes place at night. There's an effective use of silence in a couple of sequences toward the end that further enhances suspense.

Despite the obvious suspense, the script has some problems, most notably the inanity of Leigh choosing to re-locate to a more secure residence that's exactly like the one wherein she was previously stalked ... a high rise apartment that looks out toward another high rise with lots of windows. Also, some of Leigh's specific actions and some dialogue are silly and unrealistic. Further, I was quite disappointed by the film's ending.

Film direction and cinematography are fine and contribute to the suspense. Casting is acceptable. Overall performances are average. I thought Adrienne Barbeau, as Leigh's friend Sophie, gave a particularly good performance.

If the viewer overlooks the script's defects and doesn't expect too much from the story's ending, this can be an absorbing film to watch. Females might not want to watch it at night while alone.

No One Believes Her

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 7 October 2014]

The TV director Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton) moves from New York to the fancy apartment building Arkham Tower in Los Angeles to forget a relationship. She is hired by a local television and befriends the lesbian assistant Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau). Then she dates the philosophy professor Paul Winkless (David Birney) and starts a relationship with him. Leigh is a woman that likes to joke and out of the blue she receives gifts and strange phone calls. Soon she realizes that a stranger is stalking her driving her mad with phone calls, gifts and letters. Leigh and Paul decide to go to the police but the police inspector tells that he cannot do anything to help her. Leigh decides to investigate the opposite tower block, she witness the stranger killing Sophie. She calls the police but no one but Paul believes her. What can she do?

"Someone's Watching Me!" is one of the first movies by John Carpenter and homage to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Windown". Despite the low budget since it is made for television, the story holds the attention of the viewer until the last scene. The cat-and-mouse game between the stalker and Leigh is tense and full of suspense with great performance of Lauren Hutton. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Alguém Me Vigia" ("Someone's Watching Me")

Note: On 12 July 2020, I saw this film again.

Carpenter's consummate craftsmanship...

[poe426 · 7/10 · 8 October 2007]

It's John Carpenter's consummate craftsmanship that makes SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME! worth watching. Even on commercial television (which is just that: commercial after commercial after commercial), it came across as somewhat suspenseful. (Given the fact that kids with short attention span disorders can probably blame it all on too much time spent in front of the tube, Carpenter's ability to build suspense between snake oil salesmen endlessly hawking their wares is nothing less than amazing.) Lauren Hutton does a decent job in the lead (she's certainly more appealing a character than Jody Foster as Bernice Goetz in THE BRAVE ONE). Whether on television or the big screen, Carpenter has always managed to do movies that linger fondly in the memory long after the screen has gone dark.

A splendid effort by the young Carpenter.

[Vomitron_G · 7/10 · 9 September 2010]

John Carpenter's "Someone's Watching Me!" is a stylish thriller and I don't care if it's supposed to be heavily influenced by Hitchcock. Point is, Carpenter made a very decent thriller. You can clearly see there was a young director with a lot of talent at work here. The way he makes the camera move and how he chooses his angles. Good stuff. Even though the film doesn't really move along at a fast pace, it never gets boring. Carpenter uses good timing to inject certain scenes with a lot of suspense and he keeps the whole thing steadily going until the rather abrupt, but solid ending (with a very short & sweet – well not that sweet – climax). Decent lead by Lauren Hutton and a fun supporting roll by Adrienne Barbeau as her lesbian colleague. Someone will be watching this film again some time in the future. Someone else will be watching it too, because it's a Carpenter film I'll recommend to anybody who wants to hear about it.

One of the best tv horrors

[pearceduncan · 10/10 · 4 March 2001]

John Carpenter's first tv movie, Someone's Watching Me! is perhaps the best tv horror movie this side of The Night Stalker. Made, I believe, right after Halloween, it's obviously inspired by that movie, but also stands up on its own.

All of Carpenter's trademarks are present, from a strong female lead to some beautifully orchestrated scares. It's interesting to see his visual style, usually full cinemascope, applied to a tv screen.

Despite the cheesy title and tv pedigree, I'd rate Someone's Watching Me! up there with the best of Carpenter's early work. As of this writing, I don't think it's on tape. Why the hell not?

The final half hour is as good as it gets

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 16 August 2013]

An early John Carpenter film, I had never even heard of and surprisingly effective bearing in mind its 70s TV origins. So rather leisurely at first and I had bit of a problem with Lauren Hutton's character. She has a rather off putting way of 'joking about', or 'wacky' as she refers to it and also is rather blunt in her rebuttals of invitations from the opposite sex. This slightly awkward introduction to a leading lady with some baggage is compounded in the extraordinary moment when she makes the advances in a very 70s bar. but never mind, this soon gets going, everyone does a sterling job and carpenter really comes into his own as the movie progresses. The final half hour is as good as it gets and is pretty faultless. Effective music, varied and compelling camera work and increasingly believable dialogue. Well worth a watch for anyone and required for Carpenter fans who will see much that is further developed in later films.

John Carpenter TV Movie.

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 12 September 2013]

John Carpenter directed this TV(intended for cinema first) movie about a beautiful woman(played by Lauren Hutton) who finds herself harassed first by annoying phone calls, then by the realization that her stalker is watching her with a telescope from the opposite tower block from which she lives. He also sends notes, and when none of these things bring her closer to him, he escalates things... Cast also includes Adrienne Barbeau, David Birney, and Charles Cyphers.

Well directed by Carpenter, but story is pretty routine and predictable, with little else to distinguish it or make it memorable. Saw this because of the DVD, which contains a good interview with John Carpenter(though no commentary track).

art sometimes imitates life, sometimes not

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 25 June 2007]

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.

Good Carpenter movie--his first for TV

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 31 December 2008]

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.

Looker

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 10 November 2018]

From John Carpenter comes this mildly interesting early television movie with Hitchcock overtones.

Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton) moves to a new high rise apartment in Los Angeles. She also gets a new boyfriend but she also starts to get annoying crank phone calls.

Leigh thinks someone is watching her every move, stalking her but she has difficulties getting the police to believe her.

Soon her boyfriend and a colleague get together to investigate someone from the apartment block opposite. Her stalker is getting more dangerous and always seems to be one step ahead.

This is a rather pedestrian film with a few good tense bits. Leigh never seems to be a very believable character, she takes the crank calls in her stride initially. When she breaks into someone else's apartment she never tries to get out quick even though others constantly tell her to run out. The ending was rather silly as if Carpenter felt hemmed in by network television rules.

This movie made me an all time Carpenter fan.

[hal-24 · 25 November 1998]

I never expected that a TV movie like this early work from John "Thrillmaster" Carpenter could be thrilling and excellent as this one was made. Thanks Mr Carpenter. Excellent entertainment and terrific conclusion.

Taut, Gripping, Way-Above-Average, Career Lady Stalked By Creep TV-Movie Thriller

[ShootingShark · 7/10 · 18 February 2008]

Leigh Michaels is a young woman newly moved to Los Angeles, who starts receiving crank phone-calls and disturbing mail from some unknown stalker. Convinced he means to kill her, and with the police powerless to act, Leigh takes matters into her own hands ...

This is one of the best TV-movies of the seventies (second only to Duel), a crackerjack stalker thriller which exploits all the paranoid young-woman-alone ideas it has to the hilt. What makes it so exceptional is the direction, which is sky-high above the TV standard make-it-cheap and make-it-quick. This little film has lots of dolly shots, nice time-lapse dissolves, carefully composed framing, even a triple-zoom-reverse (when Leigh realises the killer is spying on her from the building opposite). Robert B. Hauser's camera-work is superb throughout, such as in the tense scene where Leigh hides inside an air-conditioning vent and the killer unwittingly walks on top of her. Carpenter may be cribbing a little from Rear Window but he racks and racks the tension and gets a fine performance from Hutton as a woman who is both terrified of her attacker but outraged that he should make her feel that way. The leads are all nicely off-the-wall; Hutton and Birney have the usual female-male leads passive-aggressive traits neatly reversed and Barbeau is a likable, wisecracking lesbian colleague ("Smoking your dinner ?", she quips at one point). For Carpenter addicts there are a plethora of in-jokes; a reference to his birthday and his producer partner Debra Hill, the TV-station is called KJHC and an unseen character is named Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog). This is a minor piece in Carpenter's rich back-catalogue (he shot it just prior to Halloween), but a terrific showcase of his talent and sensational work by TV standards.

Someone's been watching Rear Window!

[The_Void · 7/10 · 24 January 2007]

I've heard some really good things about this film, so it didn't surprise me that it didn't quite live up to expectations. Someone's Watching Me is an early TV movie from so-so director John Carpenter and it was released in the same year that his biggest hit - slasher flick Halloween - was released, so I'm guessing that a lot of the praise for this film comes from John Carpenter fans. This would appear to be Carpenter's attempt at a Brian De Palma-style Hitchcock tribute, and the main influence here is obviously Hitchcock's masterpiece, 'Rear Window'. Naturally, the film has nothing on Hitchcock and could really be described as a poor man's impression of the classic film; but thankfully, Carpenter doesn't just copy and the result is an interesting take on an already well done theme. The plot focuses on a female TV director who finds herself being watched through a telescope by a man in the block across from her. Not content to just watch, the man also terrifies her by calling her up. She tells the cops, but as usual there's nothing they can do - so she takes to investigating herself, along with her new found boyfriend and a lesbian who works at the same TV station.

I have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of John Carpenter's body of work; but this film actually represents one of his biggest successes. The film works thanks to the way that the writer/director manages to keep things at least mostly interesting throughout, and while the film doesn't boast too many real biting sequences, it at least never stagnates to the point of tedium. The Rear Window influence is felt throughout, and one pivotal sequence is pretty much lifted from the earlier film. However, most of the movie is original, and so I wouldn't go as far as to call this a complete rip off. The film was made for television in the seventies, but all this really means is that there's a lack of bloodshed (which the story doesn't really need anyway) as the production values and acting are decent enough for this sort of film. I have to say that I'd have liked this film more if Carpenter could have worked a bit more mystery into the proceedings, as the identity of the tormentor is never really important, and that's a shame as it could have added an extra element of interest if the director was willing to go a little further. Still, the film ends well (if a little abruptly), and since it runs smoothly throughout, I have to give a thumbs up.

Was really building up into a great ending

[Delrvich · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

1. She was part of some kind of psy-op managed by her BF 2. She was somehow making all this up, 3. The original suspect was rthe culprit, or 4. The BF is really the culprit but wearing a mask.

But, they come out of left field that ending, some loose ends (like Barbeau and the BF), and cool Hutton delivering the cheesiest line. What an insult. Would rate it lower, but, the build-up good. Its only the ending that ruins it.

Required Viewing For Carpenter Fans

[FantasticFilmFan · 7/10 · 5 November 2022]

Carpenter's 1978 production "Someone's Watching Me" is a great piece of Television. It shows the enormous promise that John Carpenter had at the time and helped to hone the filmmaking skills he'd apply to his following project, the horror classic "Halloween". It might be a network television production, photographed in only 18 days, but it proves to be much more accomplished piece of filmmaking than a great many writer/directors are currently knocking out with 7 figure budgets and 90 day shooting schedules. It's far from Carpenter's best work, but it's essential viewing for anyone interested in his work or those looking for 90 minutes of tightly scripted thrills.

"The lost Carpenter film", the best 70's thriller I've seen.

[joshi_3592 · 9/10 · 4 November 2009]

This is often referred to as "the lost Carpenter film", and many of you have probably not even heard of this film. Well now that it have finally been released to DVD, I advice all of you that are either John Carpenter or thriller fans to go out and by or rent this immediately. This is a high quality thriller that is packed with Carpenter great ability to create chills and paranoia. This movie may be ahead of it's time as I've noticed these kinda movies got very popular during the 90's. If you like this you'll probably like movies as "Phonebooth" and such. This is definitely the best thriller of the 70's and has a noticeable Alfred Hitchcock feel to it.

I must admit this is far from John Carpenters best movie, but it is far from bad. This was movie the movie he directed right before his biggest success film of all time "Halloween", and if I'm not wrong it was because of this film, that he was chosen specifically to direct it.

I give this film a 9/10.

John Carpenter's third film

[disdressed12 · 6/10 · 13 October 2007]

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

Just before Halloween

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 27 October 2019]

John Carpenter was hired by Warner Bros in 1976 to write a script based on the true story of a woman who had been spied on inside her Chicago apartment. The script, High Rise, ended up becoming a TV movie that Carpenter was also given the chance to direct.

"I thought it was a really, really good idea," said Carpenter. "So I had my first experience with television. And my first union experience. I got into the Director's Guild through that. I had a real good time on it, I have to tell you. I met my wife."

This eighteen-day shoot allowed Carpenter to test many of the techniques that he'd use weeks later when he started work on Halloween.

Originally airing on November 29, 1978 on NBC, this movie concerns Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton), who has moved to Los Angeles to escape New York City. As she begins her new career at television station KJHC with new friend Sophie (Barbeau) and a relationship with college professor Paul Winkless (David Birney, who went on to be quite the reader of audio books).

However, she's soon dealing with phone calls and strange gifts from Excursions Unlimited. She calls the police, but there's nothing she can do except wait for the voyeur to come to her.

Fans of Halloween take note: Charlie Cyphers shows up as a cop.

Hutton's High Rise Stalker

[jeanlevy · 8/10 · 1 August 2019]

It's probably no surprise that John Carpenter was able to elevate the TV movie with Someone's Watching Me. It's a devilishly Hitchcockian yarn and Carpenter works in a few nail biting sequences and even some genuine jolts along the way.

Lauren Hutton makes for a great, likable protagonist as a TV director who moves into a new high rise apartment and attracts a stalker across the way who begins sending her gifts and creepy phone calls. She involves her new friend (Adrienne Barbeau) and a potential boyfriend (David Birney) who may or may not end up becoming fodder for the stalker.

Someone's Watching Me is a fairly typical and obvious story that's been told in several different variations over the years, but Carpenter shows that he's a director of incredible skill. Hutton is quite amusing as the lead who has long spells where she adorably talks to and jokes with herself. Barbeau is also excellent as her friend, Sophie - an out and proud lesbian (and on 70's primetime TV no less!)

Pedestrian thriller.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 25 June 2003]

When the plot of a movie is so simple that it can be summed up in three words - "killer stalks woman" - the movie inevitably will have to be padded out with lots of scenes in which nothing in particular happens, so it can reach the 90-minute mark. "Someone's Watching Me!" is no exception. Simply put, this film has good camerawork by John Carpenter, but a boring script also by John Carpenter. Lauren Hutton's appearance is dazzling, but her acting less so, and some of the pseudo-hip dialogue she's given is just plain terrible. (**)

Where's Michael Myers when you need him?

[Coventry · 5/10 · 20 March 2008]

"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!