Weeping Shriner (1999)

It put me to sleep
This movie is about a guy who carries a camera with him everywhere he goes. He starts to kill people with the end of his camera, the camera has a little knife attached to it. He also has some unresolved childhood issues.

I tried watching this 3 times and everytime I tried I fell asleep within the first 25 min. Finally forced myself to watch the whole thing and it was hard to make it through.

The characters are like walking zombies. The classical music playing during the 'murder' scenes is annoying and not scary. In fact theres almost continuous classical/piano music playing throughout the whole movie.

Very boring actors, uninteresting characters, I was barely able to finish watching this. If youre interested in watching a guy take a camera in and out of his bag 20 times along with boring English dialogue and very lackluster suspense... watch it.. if not, dont even bother.

"Take me to your cinema"
PEEPING TOM singlehandedly destroyed the career of producer-director Michael Powell in 1960. Universally reviled by critics and basically ignored by audiences, the film slid into obscurity. Only now has PEEPING TOM begun to be recognized as a modern classic of the thriller genre.

Clean-cut Mark Lewis (Karlheinz Bohm) works as a camera operator at a London film studio, and moonlights as a photographer for "girlie pictures" above a seedy newsagency. He also hides a dark secret; where he stalks and murders lovely young women, capturing their last moments of sheer terror on his portable movie camera. Mark's neighbour Helen (Anna Massey) strikes up a friendship with him, but could her life also be in danger?

PEEPING TOM, filmed in glorious blazing Technicolor, is filled with intriguing performances and lots of underlying subtext. Bohm is mesmerizing to watch as the conflicted and tortured Mark, especially when his relationship with the Anna Massey character starts to bloom and he begins to start walking away from his dark and murderous desires. Bohm is best-remembered for his role of Emperor Franz-Joseph in the beloved "Sissi" trilogy--a far cry indeed from his intense performance in PEEPING TOM.

Michael Powell also got to reunite with his "Red Shoes" leading lady Moira Shearer, who plays Vivian, a stand-in at the film studio where Mark works. Vivian becomes another victim of Mark's bizarre fetish, but not before Shearer is showcased dancing an expressionistic jazz routine (a sequence again scored by "Red Shoes" composer Brian Easdale). Shearer always looked very lovely in Technicolor with her flaming red hair. I assume Powell called in a few favours by getting Shearer--who is the second-billed in the credits (despite her role being a supporting one).

Fans of good quality thrillers will get a real kick out of PEEPING TOM, a true classic of the genre, with lots of rewards for multiple viewing.

The morbid urge to gaze
This is quite an intriguing story, hailed by critics as the British equivalent of Hitchcock's Psycho. Both would make an outstanding double feature on a stormy night. Martin Scorcese claimed this is one of the greatest films depicting the mechanics of directing.

It's the story of Mark, who works behind the scenes at the film studio. He has a strange fascination with the camera, which stems from his childhood. His father had an incessant passion, actually a sadistic passion, with capturing every aspect of his son's life on tape. Never a free moment off the record, which would be tough for anybody. His dad also enjoyed catching the reactions of the nervous system to fear, especially in children. Mark constantly would wake up in the middle of the night, petrified by his father's twisted experiments.
So, of course Mark grew up with issues. Add to the fact that his mom died when he was young, so he lacked that motherly nurturing spirit to help offset his crazy dad's obsession. Does that sound like a crazy sex-fiend who loves to kill women in the making? Yep, you guessed it.
He would capture each murder on tape of course. There would be a hidden blade in the tripod of the camera, which would be the last thing his victims would see before they die.
As you watch him work, you get the uncomfortable feeling that you're the one peeping at the unlucky ladies. You become the voyeur. That's probably a big part of the reason this film was pulled from the theaters after one week. It essentially ruined the career of the director.
One thing I really enjoyed about this film was the psychological process the filmmaker uses to accomplish their goals with the actor or actress. I've heard of some pretty drastic tactics used by some directors. I remember hearing about John Singleton making his debut film, Boyz-in-the-Hood. He suprised the cast with live ammunition being fired from a machine gun in order to get them all to run frantically away. That's effective filmmaking.
There was a moment during Peeping Tom where Mark was alone with an actress, he was filming and trying to scare her. She said "I know you're trying to create atmosphere for me, but I just don't feel frightened". Silly b#$%ch, wait til he pulls the knife out and we'll see some Oscar worthy acting. Haha.

Peeping Tom is just plain brilliant filmmaking, no doubt about it. Don't miss it.