Actor Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) finds himself suffering from claustrophobia and he's later fired. He goes home and catches his girlfriend cheating on him. He is befriended by Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry) who offers him a place to stay. Sam shows him a telescope trained on a scantily-clad neighbor. He becomes obsessed with the woman and starts following her. She is Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton) and he comes to her rescue with a purse snatcher. He continues to spy on her when the thief shows up and murders her. Then he notices a tattoo on porn actress Holly Body (Melanie Griffith) that is the same as the one spied on Gloria.It's director Brian De Palma and Melanie Griffith as the Body. It's salacious and devious. I'm not sure that the premise completely works. There's no need for a false alibi with the Body. The alibi shouldn't work in the actual murder. I don't think the premise works but I'm not sure. Craig Wasson is a solid everyman actor although the role may fit better a matinee idol. He is the lead actor in the movie within the movie after all. Despite that, this is deviously voyeuristic and deliciously sexy.

After being booted from a film due to his being claustrophobic, "Jake Scully" (Craig Wasson) goes back to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend "Carol" (Barbara Crampton) and discovers her in bed with another man. This results in him moving out and at the suggestion of a recent acquaintance named "Sam Bouchard" (Gregg Henry) he is offered the opportunity to temporarily reside in a luxurious high rise apartment while Sam is out of town on business. After quickly showing him the place, Sam then beckons him to a telescope he has pointed to another apartment window where an extremely beautiful woman named "Gloria Revelle" (Deborah Shelton) performs a sexy striptease at the same time every night. Naturally, being a red-blooded male he watches her the next night as well and it's during this time that he notices a strange person stalking her and immediately becomes convinced that she is in danger. So in an attempt to protect her he begins to follow her as well--and things take a turn for the worse immediately afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an interesting film which greatly benefited from the presence of two attractive actresses in Melanie Griffith (as the porn star "Holly Body") and the aforementioned Deborah Shelton. Likewise, it also took several strange twists and turns which served to maintain the mystery throughout most of the film as well. That said, I enjoyed this particular movie and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Director Brian de Palma's crime thriller is full of the expected Hitchcockian moments, from the murder viewed through a window (REAR WINDOW) to the hero's claustrophobia (a basic equivalent of VERTIGO). Obviously it's not as classic as its various predecessors, but there are enough twists and turns in the tale to keep one watching. However, you need to have your brain firmly in gear to do so or you may find yourself getting a headache.The acting is all average, sometimes good, sometimes quite bad, but on the whole okay, and the film benefits from a respectable cast, some of whom (notably Melanie Griffith and Dennis Franz) have gone on to greater stardom. Although the film is best when working on the mystery aspects (the erotic moments are not handled too well), there is one excellent, striking set piece.The moment occurs when the young woman is about to be murdered with a huge electric drill, and the hero desperately races to her house to try and save her, only to keep getting stalled, while the murderer also keeps being held up. The tension, as to whether the murderer or hero will strike first, is sustained remarkably well through the quarter of an hour long moment and it literally keeps you on the edge of your seat until the final outcome. This moment highlights an above average thriller, which veers too far on the silly side to be wholly enjoyable, but still contains plenty of nice photography and sinister shots to raise its value.

Poorly plotted Hitchcock rip-off, which is too often the case with De Palma. This one particularly suffers because the lead actor (Craig Wasson) is absolutely terrible. Who could have possibly allowed him to be the lead in a movie? He's so wishy-washy and unlikable. I mean, the guy is such a wimp that he almost has a heart attack due to his claustrophobia when he finds himself in a tunnel the size of my apartment. The only ace this movie has up its sleeve is Melanie Griffith at her absolute hottest co-starring as a porn star, and she doesn't even show up until an hour into the film. The plot revolves around Wasson peeping at the neighbor woman (Deborah Shelton) when he's housesitting for a guy he just befriended (Gregg Henry). He sees a strange man hanging around Shelton, and decides to get involved.