The Best Underrated Stalker And Voyeur Thrillers

The Horror Pod Class is back at the Stray Cat theater tonight, this time screening the underseen John Carpenter made for television movie Someone’s Watching Me! starring Lauren Hutton, Adrienne Barbeau, and David Birney. Hutton’s Leigh moves into a new apartment and is slowly driven to the breaking point by someone watching her every move. Unfortunately, the police can’t or won’t help, and she is forced to track the stalker down herself. While the film touted as the lost Carpenter film isn’t nearly the masterpiece that the original Halloween is, it still has quite a few well-placed scares, great acting and direction, and a heaping load of slow-burning dread.

These kinds of cat and mouse movies are great for those who like their scary movies full of unease and low on gore. There is an inherent vulnerability in these sorts of films that make you feel the anxiety the protagonists feel. It’s easy to put ourselves in their shoes. We have all stayed in hotels, apartments, and new places that didn’t feel quite right. Are we just experiencing jitters, or is there something genuinely wrong? Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you. Everyone knows Rear Window, but there are plenty of others you probably haven’t heard of. Here are the Best Underrated Stalker And Voyeur Thrillers if you want more.

Lost Highway

Fred(Bill Pullman) and Renee(Patricia Arquette) are a couple who finds tapes of their house and themselves sleeping on their front porch. That discovery leads them and the audience down an extraordinary, twisty, and often incomprehensible road as stunning as it is confusing. It is quintessential David Lynch viewing that gets overlooked by his other movies like Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet.

The Watcher(2000)

Okay, admittedly, this isn’t the best film on the list, but it stars Keanu Reeves as the stalker/killer. I love everything he has ever done, and I would gladly let him stalk me any day. Reeves plays an intelligent serial killer who stalks his victims for weeks so he can capture and kill them without detection. James Spader is an FBI agent who Reeves also stalks, making this a no-brainer for all Gen Xers who lovingly remember Ted Theodore Logan and Steff from the ’80s. Although the story is relatively straightforward and there are no surprises, Reeves and Spader are the draws here and worth watching.

One Hour Photo

This little-seen film delivers a gut-punch of a creeper in Robin Williams playing way off type. This brilliant movie may be the best voyeur movie of all time. Williams plays a not so mild-mannered man who will gladly develop your photographs for a small fee. For some, that fee is money, but for one poor family, he becomes obsessed with it is a means to right a karmic wrong. Although photo booths no longer exist, pictures do. Someone just as easily could cyber-stalk your family pictures, and the story would be the same. It is the kind of movie that makes you want to never post anything on social media again. There is hardly any violence and zero gore, but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

Hidden or Cache(2005)

This French psychological thriller is the real deal. A family begins receiving tapes of their house and creepy child-like drawings in the mail. As time goes by, the videos and drawings become more disturbing. This family has secrets, and they unfold in surprising and perfectly paced ways. This is an incredible slow-burner with some great twists and turns, and the ending is a killer.

The Rental

Dave Franco’s film first presents as a typical couples retreat gone very bad. Two couples go on a getaway together at a gorgeous ocean-side house. There is tension between the couples, and something seems a little off about the home’s owner, but the place is too good to be true. It doesn’t take long before things go sideways and bodies start piling up. There is a very unnerving twist, and the ending will make you very leery of staying in an Airbnb.

Hide And Seek

This American remake of the Korean film of the same name is a pretty good thriller. Jonathon Rhys Meyers plays a wealthy businessman who begins hunting for his long-lost brother after their father dies. Unfortunately, instead of reconnecting with his brother, he is led down a dark path of vagrants, the poor, and the desperate. The more he tries to unravel the mystery of his brother’s disappearance he begins to lose his sanity culminating in a fiery conclusion that is deeply unnerving and strangely sad.

A Scanner Darkly

This dystopian science fiction story from Philip K Dick is an impressive rotoscope classic. Keanu Reeves is an undercover cop named Bob who is tasked with gathering information on a potential drug ring selling a dangerous mind-altering drug. The deeper Bob goes he becomes addicted to the drug, which eventually destroys his life as he loses his tenuous grasp on reality. This intelligent film is loyal to Dick’s story and speaks to corruption and power. It keeps you guessing, and it’s always great to see Winona Ryder.

The ‘Burbs

This horror-comedy is one of my favorites of all time. Tom Hanks is the hapless voyeur in this movie that highlights the absurdity of suburbia. When a strange neighbor moves into the cul de sac, the neighborhood becomes convinced the new neighbors are killers. This film holds up very well and will have you howling with laughter.

Being John Malkovich

This utterly original movie twists the idea of voyeurism on its head. John Cusack plays a man who found a way to climb inside the mind of John Malkovich literally. Spike Jonze’s film is a bizarre and funny fantasy that is a must-see for anyone who loves movies.