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)

Vertigo , a review by Dragonfire

Vertigo One of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest cinematic achievements, Vertigo, celebrates its 50th anniversary with an all-new 2-disc Special Edition DVD! Set in San Francisco, Vertigo creates a dizzying web of mistaken identity, passion and murder after an acrophobic detective (James Stewart) rescues a mysterious blonde (Kim Novak) from the bay. Recognized for excellence in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, this dreamlike thriller from the Master of Suspense is as entertaining today as it was 50 years ago. Featuring revealing bonus features and a digitally remastered picture, Vertigo is a "great motion picture that demands multiple viewings" (Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide). My Thoughts This one is a bit...darker and more twisted than most of the other Hitchcock movies that I've seen.  That darkness works for the story, but it probably won't appeal to some people, even people who have liked other Hitchcock movies.  The movie starts off showing a traumatic event that causes John to leave the police force.  He has an idea to slowly get use to his fear of heights to get over his vertigo, but his attempt to stand on a step stool doesn't end well.  When he is first approached by his old school friend Gavin about following his wife Madeline, John isn't interested and he tries to leave it by making suggestions of other people who can handle the job, but Gavin is insistent that John has to be the one to take the job.  John should have listened to his instincts, but he ends up being taking the job.  Gavin is worried that his wife has some sort of mental problem and he says that he needs more information before having her committed.  John spends some time following Madeline, lurking around while she does a few somewhat odd things.  After he saves her, John is pulled further into a bad situations and obsession develops.  The mystery - tied to exactly what is going on - works well and there is a good amount of suspense.  The tension and suspense do build slowly. Scenes that deal with John following Madeline do move a bit slower, but that is needed to fully set up everything.  Things are more complicated than they seemed at first, and the time is needed to fully set up everything.  It doesn't take John long to develop an obsession with Madeline.  A few things that happen probably should have raised a question with him, but he is so far gone in his obsession that he misses those hints that things are not right.  There seems to be come resolution in the middle of the movie, but then more is revealed when John sees Judy, a woman who looks like Madeline, only with darker hair.  From the second he sees her, he isn't acting fully rational, and his obsession is in full swing.  As things progress, he slides further into the obsession, acting in more questionable ways.  I think the movie is more about John's breakdown. The characters, especially John, are more complex and there are all sorts of flaws in them.  John's fear of heights is a believable problem, as is how it impacts his life.  He starts off as a likable character, but as the movie progresses, he does some things that make it a bit harder to like as more of his flaws come out.  That does make him a realistic character.  Madeline is a bit of a mystery and that does work well with what is going on in the movie.  Once Judy is introduced, more comes out about her and her motivations are understood more, but she also makes some bad decisions. This movie is very good and entertaining, though it is far from a happy movie.  The ending is more bleak than the endings in several other Hitchcock movies, though from some things I've read about other Hitchcock movies, he wanted to go in different directions with some of them - I'm mainly thinking of Suspicion and how he was forced to change the ending.  I still haven't seen all the extras on the DVD I have.  I did watch the foreign censor ending - or whatever it was called - again.  Hitchcock had to make the alternate ending to show the movie in some foreign countries.  I can't remember which ones at the moment.  That ending does tie up something else a bit more, but I think the original ending fits the movie better even though it is clearly darker and bleaker. I went with 4 when I first reviewed the movie..now I'm thinking more of 4.5 or even 5.  I'm thinking I wasn't in quite the right mood to watch it the last time, so the slower build up didn't work as well for me then. I posted a review on Epinions back in November of 2008, when I watched this one the first time I did an alphabet marathon.  I also posted about the movie here then too. Vertigo

(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on July 20th, 2010)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon, a review by Achim

The Demon Hand
Another one of those "sorry we need to bore you, but we need to bring acreoos some more exposition" episodes. They aren't bad, it's just not a lot going on, really. I enjoyed them bringing Silverman back.

"No, I'm not police. But I do find them useful."

Vick's Chip
Those scenes with the chip were quite interesting; and creepy at times! It was cool how they tightened the screws a bit on the suspicions against Cameron, but also on Derek; good stuff for season 2.

"The roast should have been removed from the stove 18 minutes and 27 seconds ago."

What He BeheldMy conclusion:
A cool TV series that connect Terminator 2 and 3 brilliantly (so far), with good acting, sufficient amount of action and some humor thrown in for good measure. Looking forward to season 2 (full-length!).

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon on January 27th, 2009)