Anonymous Andy (Minus_The_Beer) Before his big breakthrough with "Halloween," John Carpenter took a paycheck from NBC, pumping out this nearly-forgotten TV-movie, "Someone's Watching Me!" (exclamation mark is part of its title, and is neither a stylistic choice or an indication of over-enthusiasm on this writer's part). Starring Lauren Hutton as the "Me!" being watched, the film is admittedly limited in scope, being that it was created for network television with advertisers in mind. As a John Carpenter affair, though, it serves as a rather engaging sandbox for the director to flex his muscles before ultimately conquering both the horror genre and independent cinema alike. The long tracking shots, the deceptively simple yet complex camera tricks, the mounting tension -- just about everything you associate with vintage Carpenter can be found here, albeit in a somewhat neutered fashion.Leigh Michaels (Hutton) has just moved to L.A. and is looking to start her life over again. All seems to be going to plan, as she finds a job working in television almost instantly, befriends a spunky co-worker (Adrienne Barbeau) and wins the affections of a charming fellow bar-patron (David Birney). Unfortunately, some creep in the high- rise apartment across from her has taken a liking to her, stalking her from both near and afar, and sending threatening phone calls that are just vague enough so that the local authorities (Charles Cyphers) can't do much about them. Being the self- sufficient scrapper with a heart of gold (and biting sense of humor to boot) that she is, Leigh takes matters into her own hands and faces the creeper head-on in what turns out to be a rather tense (and vertigo-inducing) showdown.Lauren Hutton is both the star and the best part of the movie. Her character is so well-written and down-to-earth, and Hutton brings it to life with such natural ease, that you feel like you know this person already. This of course makes it all the easier to sympathize and get wrapped up into her plight. It helps, of course, that she is directed by someone like Carpenter, who cares as much about his characters as he does about milking the suspense of any given situation. It's not his flashiest film, and heck, he didn't even get to score it himself, but there's a certain element of class that Carpenter brings to the table that makes you forgot you're watching a made-for-TV movie. Also of note: Carpenter was clearly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and that fact oozes into more than a few corners of the film. The film almost plays like a reversal of said film, but regrettably "Front Window" wouldn't have been a very catchy title. "Someone's Watching Me!" may not have a great title or much of a reputation, but it is definitely of interest to lovers of good suspense and John Carpenter alike.

Claudio Carvalho 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")

MisterWhiplash John Carpenter made this, probably unintentionally, as a kind of practice-run for Halloween, which he started shooting very soon after he finished this film (though Halloween came out before Someone's Watching Me). We have the stalker and the victim, like in Halloween, but where Carpenter's classic film is a series of kills and cat-and-mouse chases, Someone's Watching Me is like traces of Halloween merged with Rear Window; here Jimmy Stewart is using his knack of looking out a window as a pathological/deranged psycho in using his access as a maintenance man to stalk sexy women across his view. In this case it's Lauren Hutton, a TV director, who is at first sent strange letter about a 'vacation', and then given the obvious phone calls, not to mention the recording device plugged under the table in her apartment. No matter what she tries to beat him at his game- and the cops are of course no help sending an innocent man to Des Moines in exile- it comes down to him vs. her on a ledge.This could be a routine premise in other hands- as a matter of fact it was based on a true case and was handed to Carpenter as an assignment- but for Carpenter, in a 'paying-his-dues' task, he makes it his own as a truly taut chiller. Now, it doesn't mean it's a really great piece; Carpenter as composer is regrettably missing and placed with a (decent) TV-type track, and the performance from David Birney is only so-so. But for what Carpenter set out to do, he hit on all cylinders for something that's unexpected, slightly, from a director like him. The script is witty but realistic, the performances from Hutton and Barbeau are fantastic, and his attention to details by the particular usage of the camera is akin, again, to Hitchcock. Some scenes, however expectant they might be, are really gripping, no punches pulled. And for TV, it's probably something close to being Ace (Duel would probably top it, but it goes without saying). Carpenter fans will rejoice that this is finally on DVD.

Lee Eisenberg 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.