Peeping Tom

Michael Powell's 1960 film follows a film studio worker who kills with his camera. He records his victims' fear. He was used as an experiment in childhood. The film places the viewer inside the killer's gaze; the narrative builds watching itself as complicity. On release it was attacked so sharply that it ended the director's career. It was reassessed years later. The colour design is striking. Who it's for: those studying the history of cinema. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by implications of sexual violence and by killings shown through the victim's eyes; the film places that at its centre.