Peeping Tom (1960 film)

Peeping Tom
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Powell
Written byLeo Marks
Produced byMichael Powell
Starring
CinematographyOtto Heller
Edited byNoreen Ackland
Music byBrian Easdale
Production
company
Michael Powell (Theatre)
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • 7 April 1960 (1960-04-07)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£133,394
Box office$149,495

Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey and Maxine Audley. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror, putting his footage together into a snuff film used for his own self-pleasure. Its title derives from the expression "Peeping Tom", which describes a voyeur.

The film's controversial subject matter and its extremely harsh reception by critics had a severely negative impact on Powell's career as a director in the United Kingdom. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now widely considered a masterpiece, and a progenitor of the contemporary slasher film. The British Film Institute named it the 78th greatest British film of all time, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the 27th best British film ever.

The music score was written by Brian Easdale and performed by Australian pianist Gordon Watson.