moonfleet

As "Peeping Tom" may be concidered as a distant viewing about horror film , I've red once that M.Powell said he did'nt enjoy the genre , but very much respected T.Fisher as a great artist, and also said Fisher about Powell's films and person....
M.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

Steve Crook

Why do you consider Peeping Tom to be a horror film?

The IMDb shouldn't be taken as the ultimate or the only way to judge something. But it does give us a starting point to discuss exactly what a horror film with its Genre Guide where it says:
Horror: should contain numerous consecutive scenes of characters effecting a terrifying and/or repugnant narrative throughout the title.

Peeping Tom just has a few very isolated scenes where there are horrific things happening - but we don't see most of them

Steve

lupinpooter

I'd agree that Peeping Tom doesn't fall into any single genre category: it draws on the iconographies of horror, the thriller and pornography. Probably others too!

PS I am enjoying your P&P website, Steve - a great resource :)

m35541

I think the most appropriate description for Peeping Tom is a horror film and you will find that most horror film history books include it (eg Pirie, Rigby). It was certainly seen as such by contemporary critics who compared it to the likes of Circus of Horrors and The Stranglers of Bombay. The film it is most compared with is Psycho.

It is a film about a psychopath who murders people with a large knife/phallus in order to record their horrific reactions to the moment of their death. You don't see that much for the the same reasons you don't see that much in any horror film of the period.

Steve Crook

The definition of a horror film seems to have broadened considerably over the years. I have often come across devotees of that genre who want to include Peeping Tom and others in the genre, which I suppose they can if they broaden it enough. Although I maintain that Peeping Tom & Psycho aren't primarily about anything that would be traditionally described as a horror film.

But genre classifications are always very subjective

Don't get me wrong, I agree that Peeping Tom has got elements in it that would normally meet the horror genre. But they are such small parts of the total film that I think it's wrong to call it a horror film.

Steve

Steve Crook

Thank you

Steve

CaptainWaggett

It has a librarian in peril. I can't think of anything more horrific than that...

charliekane

Hi Steve -

Although I think genre labels are often less than useful, I was just curious as to what you would call Peeping Tom. I'm not sure P&Ps films can be categorised at all, to be honest, other than as P&P !!

Steve Crook

That is where it becomes difficult, if it's not a horror film, then what is it?

It's easier to say what it isn't.
It's not really a murder mystery because we know who's doing the killings.
It's certainly not a snuff movie (as it was called by Alexander Walker) or anything gory because the only death we see is the suicide of the killer himself.
I'm not even sure it's a thriller because although there are a few moments of tension (Mark, watching the detectives in the studio or Helen, alone in Mark's studio) they aren't a major part of the film either.

There's drama in there and there's a lot of psychology. Does that make it a psychodrama? The audience involvement is a major part of it.

I think that Psychological Drama is probably the best way to categorise it. That puts it more in the group with films like The Silence of the Lambs, A Clockwork Orange, Cape Fear and White Heat where the psychology is more important than the horror or the violence.

Steve

Merton Park

Would people describe Psycho as a Horror Film? I have always thought of Peeping Tom as a psycholigical thriller.

At the time of its release, the Horror genre comprised of the Frankenstein/Dracula ilk plus English and American monster and supertnatural films.

moonfleet

Hello Steve
I know that my english is far from perfect ( but who needs to be, as sayed Oswald D.Junior in"Some Like It Hot"), but what I was trying to say, speaking about "Peepin Tom" was that it has a distant point of view on the genre of horror. But the film itself is more a thriller, I think (...as the richness of a good movie can be reduce to a kind).The character of Mark is a nevrotic killer, and if we don't see any blod, the way he just kill women is horrible, and he can't help it ( as many serial killers).

- To be followed 'cause my P.C connection is no good today; 3 thrd time I wrote this message !

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

moonfleet

Also we know about his childhood trauma, his father (...irony of M.Powell playing the part)made him scared for scientific experiences (...scientific experiences are well quoted in horror movies), that's horrible too. The film can also be connected , I think, as if any director movie is a Peeping Tom.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

moonfleet

So, as now I'm enjoying Tito Puente's music and I am not really in a mood to argue with such a Powell's specialist as you are. Also "Peeping Tom" is not my favourite of Powell's work. I'd rather "The Thief of Bagdad" or "IKWIG" amongst the best known, that's a fact .
M.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

Steve Crook

That's all right, I don't argue, I just discuss vigorously
I am always prepared to change my mind if given a good reason to do so.

As I said, quite a few people have tried to classify Peeping Tom as a pure horror film and I am interested to hear why people would try to do that when to me it's not at all horrible or scary which is what I expect a horror film to be.

I think it might be as Merton park said, that when I was growing up a horror film was Frankenstein, Dracula or a supernatural story and of course there's none of that in Peeping Tom. But since then the horror genre has expanded quite a lot and now takes in a range of serial killer movies. I think that's where the overlap happens. Those American serial killer movies never held any interest for me but I can see that a fan of them might see something similar in Peeping Tom. Although if that's all they see in it then I think that they're missing the major part of it.

Steve

batman

I can .... the librarian survives!