Peeping Tom (1960) Review

 

Peeping Tom (1960)

Peeping Tom follows Mark Lewis, a photographer who quite literally kills his victims with his camera, as part of a documentary he is making on human’s biggest fear—fear itself. 

Usually regarded as the first slasher flick ever, Peeping Tom is an excellent example for just how far the slasher genre has come since it’s infancy. Long before the blood, gore, and astronomical body counts, (but seemingly not before naughty sex stuff), this film kind of set the precedent to follow, which is funny because it’s surprisingly tame, if not a little run of the mill, by today’s standards that is (a pretty controversial movie in it’s time). Many of the themes present in the film, like voyeurism, murder, and sadomasochism were still very scandalous topics, and while much of the movie has a hard time conveying all the information it wants for an even story, the groundbreaking usage of these themes in a rather clandestine way is rather impressive. It looks at horror and violence as a more cathartic experience to explore one’s fears or anxieties, stemming from deep childhood trauma (all now established psychological traits of a serial killer). To my knowledge, it was also one of the first examples of using a camera as it’s own entity/character, and well, you can obviously see how that turned out. 

While all of this interesting, it was the visual quality of the film that caught my eye however. Shot in Eastmancolor (and I assume processed in Technicolor) each scene is a feast for the eyes, taking on a chiaroscuro color palette that is highly saturated but contrasted well with the combination of dramatic use of shadows. Every shot feels ripped off a Hardy Boys cover (done brilliantly by pulp artist Rudy Nappi), and it’s that use of reds or blues as thematic and artistic choices that give each scene depth and weight when set to the riveting score. 

We get a pretty good cast as well, starring Moira Shearer, Maxine Audley, Anna Massey, and Karlheinz Böhm. Some series credit goes to Böhm in this, and not just for his knowledgable performance, but because he expertly played a weird sociopath well before such things were normally established. 

Peeping Tom, directed by Micheal Powell (who’s career was practically ended over this), is a movie far before it’s time, and though it isn’t the most well paced and stable journey, it’s hard to deny it’s groundbreaking qualities that are still present in the horror of today. 

7.7/10