SOMEONE IS WATCHING (2000)

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny // marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological*


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This is another of those movies where I have to give away plot points to explain the film's phenomenal nature.

This made-for-TV flick opens on some fragmented scenes from a woman's murder many years earlier, Then widow Michelle (Stefanie Powers, not looking her almost-sixty years in the least) moves into her new home with her grade-schooler son Cory, not knowing that it's a murder house. Michelle gets some moving-help from Charles, a former boyfriend who still wants to get with her, but Michelle turns him down flat. Shortly after moving, Michelle catches a stranger playing Peeping Tom at her window. She finds that it's a 30-something geeky fellow, Bobby, who occupies the neighboring house with his elderly father. The father pleads with Michelle not to call the cops, and Michelle agrees as long as Bobby stays clear in future.

Nevertheless, odd things keep happening around the new house, and Cory starts talking to "BJ," an unseen figure in his closet whom Michelle deems an imaginary friend. Michelle's nutty neighbor Sally (Margot Kidder) sees some weird things while babysitting Cory, and gets concerned enough that she calls in a lady psychic to investigate. The psychic is the sole source of all marvelous content in the film, for though she doesn't explicitly say whether or not the place is haunted, her visions prove to be useful to Michelle in ferreting out the truth.

Though director Douglas Jackson keeps a spooky vibe going for a good portion of the film, it's eventually revealed that the "haunter" is none other than Bobby, whom by that time Michelle believes to be dead by suicide. It seems the neighboring houses are linked by a common corridor, and that's the way Bobby has infiltrated Michelle's home and convinced Cory of his status as an imaginary friend. (I'll parenthetically note that while the woods are full of movies where someone pretends to be a ghost, I'm not aware of any involving a magical friend-imposture.) In addition, years ago Bobby both raped and murdered the previous occupant of the house, and let her husband do time for the crime.

Unlike many TV-movie psychos, Bobby is creepy enough to follow in the footsteps of Norman Bates-- whom he resembles in part thanks to the peeping incident-- though Bobby's psychology is not as well delineated. There's no description of Bobby's past history aside from his murder of his earlier neighbor, but by the time he starts stalking Michelle, he's got some idea that he can become the new father-figure to Cory and husband to Michelle. Since the character of Michelle isn't being played to be Stefanie Powers' real age, it's implied-- if only because of her kid's age-- that she's not significantly older than Bobby, or, for that matter, old boyfriend Charles or new cop-boyfriend Joe. So there's not an overt mother-complex in WATCHING, though Bobby's habit of murdering neighbor-women still seems like a PSYCHO swipe.