Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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.

jseger9000 I was so excited to see the 'forgotten' John Carpenter film finally getting a DVD release. He's one of my favorite directors. Unfortunately this is one of his weakest films and probably my least favorite.It's not all bad and has some genuinely tense moments, but they are few and far between. I'm not sure if John Carpenter just wasn't feeling it with this one or if it was due to the constraints of it being a T.V. movie with the constant breaks required for commercials. Whatever it is, the film is a series of peaks and valleys. The pace is off. You just don't get enough of a feeling of building tension. It's funny, because this film was preceded by Halloween and followed by The Fog and both are excellent, suspenseful films.In this movie there are a number of good scenes. The bits with the laundry room, the park at night, the penthouse, the search of a house and the last fifteen minutes are great. But in between there are plenty of dull spots.The music was kind of irritating. I wish John Carpenter had gotten to score this one like he does most of his movies. But he didn't and the music is here seems like a swipe of better music from other suspense movies and at times was just inappropriate for the scene. The best part musically was a scene where Leigh is opening a strange package that was synced to Vivaldi's 'Winter'. That part was very well done, but also pointed out how bad the rest of the music was.Also, Lauren Hutton just didn't seem right for the part. She's a good actress and the part was written well, but the two didn't seem to connect.One highlight of the movie is Adrienne Barbeau. She is terrific in her part. It's easy to see why J.C. used her in his future movies (well, aside from their marriage). I wish she were in the movie more.Also, I applaud him for writing in a positive lesbian character. It must have been scandalous for a T.V. movie from 1978. She wasn't stereotypical, never made any 'sinister' passes at our heroine and also wasn't portrayed as the 'magical gay character'. Kudos to John Carpenter.This movie is worth a rental. But compared to what John Carpenter had done before and would do in the future, this entry was weak.

poe426 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.

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.