Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom (Criterion #58). 1960 Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors & Janus Films.
Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley
Director: Michael Powell
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Michael Powell of the Archers goes solo to bring you the middle chapter of what British film critic David Pine dubbed the "Sadian Trilogy"; three Anglo-Amalgamated films that had an emphasis on sadism. Horrors of the Black Museum and Circus of Horrors were the other two movies.

Mark Lewis (Boehm) is an aspiring filmmaker who works part time taking lurid pictires of women. He is also a shy young man who rarely socializes outside of the office, while leaning part of his father's home and acting as the landlord. Mark also has another interesting hobby: murdering women and filming their deaths. The movie opens with Mark finding and killing a prostitute, then watching the footage back at home.

A family lives downstairs from Mark, and he becomes taken by Helen (Massey). They become very close, and Mark eventually reveals to Helen that his father (Powell in an uncredited cameo) used to put his son in very uncomfortable situations, and he would film them, studying the films which would make his reputation as a psychologist. Later on, Mark arranges with a stand-in actress, Vivian (Shearer), to make a film after the set is closed for the night. He kills Vivian and stuffs her in a prop trunk, where it is discovered by the film crew. The police link the two murders, and after interviewing everyone, become suspicious of Mark, who always has his camera running while claiming he's making a "documentary".

How long can Mark keep up his grisly experiments in studying the deaths of women that he kills, and will Helen unwittingly become one of his future film "stars"?

Peeping Tom is a classic British horror film. Highly recommended.