In a massive computer room, a mild-mannered looking man (Jerry Cox) sits behind a desk surreptitiously ogling a beautiful woman who is monitoring the computers. The man silently watches her as she goes about her work.
After work the man goes home and takes off his tie and jacket. He then puts on a cape and mask. Standing in his underwear and cape the man becomes his alter ego, Captain Voyeur. Now, in his official uniform, he looks out his window through binoculars on a tripod. He then goes out into the night and begins peeping into various apartment windows.
Captain Voyeur continues looking into windows until he finds the apartment of the woman from work. He then watches as the woman begins to undress.
“Captain Voyeur” was released in 1969 and was written and directed by John Carpenter. It is an American student horror video short with some dark comedy elements. Carpenter made the video while he was a student at the University of Southern California. He was 21 at the time. The film is about seven minutes long. It is one of several shorts Carpenter had a hand in while a student. The film had been in the university’s archives until it was discovered by archivist Dino Everett in 2011.
The film is black and white and has almost no audio. The plot is slim, but the film is more a lesson in technique instead of story. The use of light and shadow accentuates the eeriness of the film. It is a bit unsettling since the horror comes from the invasiveness of the main character into the privacy of unsuspecting women. There are humorous moments included as well.
It’s not great, but it’s not bad and it is well made. It starts strong but ends ambiguous. The short would mostly be of interest to Carpenter devotees and serious fans of his techniques and artistic style.
Many fans and Carpenter experts have noted that they can see the future in this film. Based on how Carpenter does movies, specifically “Halloween” 1978, they say that they can see the future director in the student film. I’m not sure how much style changes as one develops their craft, but I can understand people wanted to point to similarities in style between this short and his other films, especially “Halloween”.
In 2011 the film was selected for preservation by the National Film Preservation Foundation because of its historical significance in showing Carpenter's development as a filmmaker.