Peeping Tom is a strange but entertaining film. I’m not sure it is the same caliber as “Psycho,” but it is a solid psychological thriller. I think the end had to happen the way it did because there is no real way for Mark to redeem himself. He is so much like a child that to see him carted off to prison is too much of a fluff ending. The girlfriend, Helen, seems more like someone who thinks she can help Mark out of his weirdness instead of a love interest. Helen’s mother, Mrs. Stephens, is a wonderfully creepy character. She knows Mark needs to confess “something” for redemption, and that a woman’s nurturing touch can coax it out of him. I wanted him to tell her! Obviously, this is the only “cure” for him since his mother died early in his life and his father was a maniac. Sounds always add intensity to movies and this is no exception. The cries of the women (or was it Mark) on the tapes at the end of the movie are the perfect sounds to propel Mark’s suicide. I loved this movie.
Follow this link to Roger Ebert’s website to hear what he thinks. He loved this movie too. This site is also a good place to read more about how Martin Scorsese worshipped the works of Michael Powell.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990502/REVIEWS08/905020301/1023
Man, even Frankenstein eventually told his bride to be. And then, she died.
ReplyDeleteDid Helen survive in blissful ignorance, or did Mark get her as well?