What the Peeper Saw: Blu-Ray

Especially considering some tepid reviews.Co-directed by Andrea Bianchi (billed as "Andrew White") - most famous for the Edwige Fenech giallo, Strip Nude for Your Killer and infamous for the sadistic Cry of a Prostitute. Also credited is James Kelley (sometimes "Kelly"), primarily a screenwriter. Kelley/Kelly has one other director credit, The Beast in the Cellar. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this can be a "Film By Andrea Bianchi" - as he was extremely prolific in his decades long career.Completely restored, uncut (in her prime Britt Ekland, fellas!) and presented in glorious widescreen, What the Peeper Saw is an intriguing horrific thriller about a young woman named Elise who suspects her seemingly innocent step-son (Mark Lester from the Oscar winning musical Oliver! - the exclamation point isn't mine) of murdering his real mother, and now fears she may be next.Having recently seen the trailer presented on Umbrella Entertainment’s pedestrian, Drive-In Delirium, the fact it managed to stand out among the 175 trailers for cult cinema certainly made an impression. Now that I’ve had pleasure of watching the film, courtesy of U.S. label VCI Entertainment, I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed despite it not quite being what I expected. Similar in ways to Mervyn LeRoy’s 1956 classic The Bad Seed, our young antagonist Marcus is devoid of many integral human emotions. However, this lack of empathy is balanced with an unsettling adult maturity commonly unseen in children our little villain’s age. Marcus’ actions, while not overtly violent are nerve-wracking and often result in a number of controversial scenes with his new maternal figure, which were subsequently cut from previously released versions of the film. Britt Ekland is quite good as Elise; her mental anguish and confusion adds tension to the film’s slow-burning narrative of a new family that’s far from ideal, much to the contrary of husband Paul (Hardy Kruger, The Wild Geese) who ignore what’s becoming blatantly obvious.One of the most unique elements about the film is how it was produced by several different countries, allowing it to take on the different qualities and styles found in their respective thrillers. Filmed primarily in Madrid, Spain, the summery climate and atmosphere is juxtaposed to the ominous tone, while playing a part in the underlying sexualization of Elise, an object of desire for both our male characters. (Some credit is due to the cinematography by Jess Franco's frequent DP, billed here as "Harry Waxman.")For a film that has for years been circling the bootleg markets, VCI has done an excellent job in bringing it “back from the cutting room floor” as the cover’s rear side proudly states. Picture isn’t particular sharp, but is very clean and the soundtrack is excellent in DTS-HD.Hardy Kruger may bare an uncanny resemblance to television’s Mike Brady, however, What the Peeper Saw is anything but wholesome. With a few curve-balls thrown in to keep you guessing, you’ll likely be taken aback by what is a unfairly underrated piece of cult cinema.Then again, I'm a sucker for the creepy evil-kid(s) genre. Think of this as re-imagining of Gaslight. Or a cousin of We Need to Talk About Kevin. And yes, even The Good Son (directed by exploitation legend, Joseph Ruben).Not much extras: TV spots, trailers and English subtitles.

The British are no strangers to the suspense film, mainly through the work of Alfred Hitchcock and of Hammer Films. Set in Spain, "What The Peeper Saw" (aka "Night Child") is an early 70s offering of creepy, insolent kid (Mark Lester of "Oliver" and "Melody"), mysterious murders, a seemingly clueless father and seemingly naive stepmum. In the surprise whodunnit ending, we wonder who was telling the truth and who was the crazy one.The Blu-Ray is as good as it gets, given that the source material is more than 45 years old and certain excised scenes are restored (albeit a little sloppily). The film does not seem to have been digitally restored, but it's in otherwise good shape, without any remarkable special features. In the US, this would probably carry an 'PG-13' rating today -- not for violence or profanity, but for a controversial sexual fantasy scene and discussion of animal abuse.

After killing off his fathers previous mother, Mark Lester, who worked along side Jack Wild in the film "Oliver!", did an excellent job as a demented child obsessed with his father's new wife.

Spoiler alert. It's a kinda creepy movie but if you like that bizarre twists you can tell where it's going not surprise type but you have.to get to watch step incest and psycho kid type movies. Britt is ok in this movie and because theme it's rarely shown anymore. I remember watching once years ago so had to have bought a VCR tape of it 10 plus years ago and had to get digital. Definitely not a once a year film but once a couple years.

Sounds like a peep show, but is in fact a psychological thriller.

This is actually a pretty good movie and the lady gets the last laugh! Picture quality is nice for a 70's flick. I don't have any complaints.

I knew before I purchased this film, that it was twisted, cheesy and over the top in many ways. I bought it exactly for those reasons. The balance the director achieved between campy, sick & twisted, and entertaining was well done. Check out IMDB.com for a review. If you like stories with off-the-beaten path type plots, this is worth a view.

Good older movie with a surprise ending.