DVD Collectors Online

Someone's Watching Me!, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Someone's Watching Me!
Movie Count: 72
TV Ep Count: 25
Time Started: 10am
Plot:
L.A. newcomer Leigh Michaels moves into a chic high-rise apartment building. She loves the view. So does the Peeping Tom who lives somewhere in the adjacent tower.

John Carpenter ('Halloween', 'Escape from New York') writes and directs this thriller where the breath-catching suspense starts the moment Leigh (Lauren Hutton) is framed in the lens of a telescope. For Leigh, it's the beginning of terrors that escalate from anonymous calls and gifts to lights that mysteriously flicker to prove that someone watches every moment of her life. Leigh fights back, matching her tormentor's obsession with her own relentless drive to uncover his identity. The prey is now predator -- and that escalates the stalker's game to a deadly new level. Someone is watching. You won't dare look away.

My Thoughts:
This one is a TV Movie back from 1978. Another one I have never seen... and is the final movie that came in the "Twisted Terror Collection" boxset. I went into this one with fairly high hopes... for two reasons. First I am a fan of John Carpenter. Then there is also the fact that I have learned by collecting the DVDs that I really tend to enjoy TV Movies from the 1970's.  But I think I went into this one expecting a little too much. I enjoyed the movie... but not as much as some of the other 70's TV Movies I have watched.

(From Month-Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 25th, 2007)

Identity, a review by Danae Cassandra

Identity
Year of Release: 2003
Directed By: James Mangold
Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes
Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Overview:
What if there really were no coincidences in life and our destinies were already predetermined?

Ten strangers with secrets are brought together in a savage rainstorm: A limo driver (John Cusack), an '80s TV star (Rebecca DeMornay), a cop (Ray Liotta) who is transporting a killer (Jake Busey), a call girl (Amanda Peet), a pair of newlyweds (Clea DuVall and William Lee Scott) and a family in crisis (John C. McGinley, Leila Kenzle, Bret Loehr), all take shelter at a desolate motel run by a nervous night manager (John Hawkes). Relief in finding shelter is quickly replaced with fear as the ten travelers begin to die, one by one. They soon realize that, if they are to survive, they'll have to uncover the secret that has brought them all together.

My Thoughts:
I found this to be a really entertaining, suspenseful film.  Looking at things from the end, I can see how clues were set up, but watching the film I didn't have it fully figured out until the reveal.  Yes, early on the film does let you know that there is more to this than the obvious (escape from the motel only bringing one character back to the motel) and it gives it this Twilight Zone-esque feel at that point, but I was still wondering exactly what was going on and exactly who was the culprit.  Yes, I did have suspicions towards the correct answer, but I also thought the film did a good job misdirecting the viewer.  The performances are all good, though Cusack was the standout for me.  All in all, very good film, solid recommendation for just about anyone.

Bechdel Test:

Overall: 4/5

(From Off Day Alphabet Marathon on November 9th, 2014)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Crime Traveller
Year: 1997
Director:
Rating: PG
Length: 197 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Plot:
Meet the most unconventional investigative duo of any time - JEFF SLADE and HOLLY TURNER, in the mystery adventure series Crime Traveller.

Sleuths come and go, working on intuition, luck and clues, but Slade and his science officer colleague Holly are armed with something extra in their fight against crime - their very own Time Machine.

Invented and developed over the years by Holly's father, quantum physicist Professor Fredrick Turner, the Time Machine is a bizarre mixture of DIY technology, but it works. Unfortunately the Professor disappeared during one of his time travel experiments, leaving his daughter convinced that he is still out there somewhere, stuck in another dimension.

Holly is now in charge of the Professor's extraordinary legacy, which is kept hidden in her apartment. When Slade, a charming maverick detective, discovers the Time Machine's existence, he convinces Holly to use it in order to solve major crimes. The scene is set for a rollercoaster ride, through the present and the past.

High speed chases and intriguing puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable Time Machine, in this stylish, fast-paced drama.

Extras:
Episode Guide and Synopsis'
Interviews
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

I have watched the first series now and I must say, that even though I was sceptical after the first episode, I quite enjoyed it. I didn't have a problem with how the machine looked. It was built by her father after all over a period of many years. Its material is from different times. E.g. some vacuum tubes are still used. As for closing the curtains: As I understood it, that the closing of the wooden curtains also closes a special circuit. And everyone inside that circuit (i.e. inside the room) travels through time.
I had a problem with the huge wrist-watch though. Luckily it was hardly seen.
What I liked about this series is, that they sticked to their established time-travel principle, that nothing can be changed in the past. Everything you see always happened this way. Some stuff you see before the time-travel happened, but we later find out, that they were caused by the time-travellers themselves.
To summarize: This is an average crime-solving TV series with a little time-travel twist. The first episode is rather weak, but I enjoyed the other three episodes of this first series. Especially the last one.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Jeff Slade & The Loop of Infinity
02	A Death in the Family
03	Fashion Shoot
04	The Revenge of the Chronology Protection Hypothesis

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 25th, 2009)