Halloween
While Assault was not an immediate success. It would take a hugely successful run in Britain for people to start paying attention. Carpenter was offered the opportunity to direct a film based on the idea of someone killing off babysitters. At this point, the slasher film sort of existed in the form of Black Christmas but it wasn't a style of picture that was being heavily copied. Carpenters film would change this. Shot on a micro budget with a cast of up and coming actors including an as then unknown Jamie lee Curtis, Halloween is a tightly constructed horror movie that delivers on suspense and slow burning menace rather than the overt gore fests the slasher would ultimately become. Part of the reason the film works so well is Carpenters score. Carpenter is clearly a gifted musician but often he would score his own films through budgetary necessity. It worked out for the best though as he's possibly better than any outside composers he might have hired. Even Morricone ended up delivering something that Carpenter himself might have written.
Someone's watching me
Following on from Halloween Carpenter embarked on his first foray into televison work with this Hitchcockian thriller about Leigh Michaels played by Lauren Hutton who plays a young professional woman who is stalked by a mysterious stranger who is watching her from a distant apartment and playing cruel mind games with her. Adrienne Barbeau who would work with carpenter again several times and end up his ex-wife, plays Sophie, Leigh's gay BFF who tries to help her as shes terrorised by the sick creep.
Made in 1978 the film comes from the golden era of TV movies when often, in spite of lower budgets, they were delivering content almost as good as the majors. Think films like Trilogy of terror, satans school for girls, Duel, Kolchack and Dark night of the scarecrow as examples. Someone's watching me is a solid example of this. The film wears its Hitchcock influences on its sleeve from its Saul bass inspired titles to the clear homages to Rear window. Its often negelected when people discuss Carpenter, which is a shame as its terrific.
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