The back of the box for “Someone’s Watching Me!” proclaims the film to be “the ‘lost’ John Carpenter suspense classic,” which is a fair description, in that it’s never before been available on either VHS or DVD until now, but what it fails to mention is that it’s actually a TV movie…not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that it feels like a TV movie…or, at the very least, it looks like one. Still, I thought maybe it was just me until I looked up the history of the film and discovered its origins. Apparently, it aired on NBC in November of 1978…and since “Halloween” had opened only a month before and done boffo box office, wow, talk about your major coups! I mean, Carpenter had already directed two other theatrical features prior to “Halloween” (“Dark Star” and “Assault on Precinct 13”), so it’s not like he’d come out of nowhere, but, still, it’s like…well, imagine if NBC had debuted a TV movie directed by Steven Spielberg the month after “Jaws” had been released, and you kind of get the idea…sort of.

Lauren Hutton plays Leigh Michaels, a single and attractive TV news director who moves to Los Angeles for a new start. She gets herself an apartment, finds herself a job at a local station, and even finds a potential new beau named Paul Winkless (played by David Birney), so everything’s looking hunky-dory…until, that is, she finds herself on the receiving end of a stalker’s affections. He’s all up in her business. He’s got a telescope to watch her from afar, he’s bugged her apartment so he can hear every word she says, and he’s got her phone number, so he’s calling her at all hours of the day and night, just to keep her on edge. Thankfully, Paul’s got her back, and her supportive co-worker, Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau), agrees to assist her in fighting back…but will they succeed before things turn deadly?

Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

Though early in his career, it’s clear that Carpenter already had a flair for suspense. There’s a moment early in the film, not long after Leigh has moved into her apartment, when we get an unexpected glimpse of her stalker rushing out of the apartment that’ll give you the chills, and the POV shots used on various occasions prove extremely effective as well. The film’s climax, much of which takes place on the balcony of Leigh’s apartment, is mostly successful, though the limits of what could be shown on network television in the late ’70s result in a conclusion that’s not as chilling as it might otherwise have been. Still, it’s aided immensely by the work of composer Harry Sukman, whose Hitchcock-inspired sounds do well at upping the tension (and also served as a trial run for the work he would do the following year on “Salem’s Lot”).

In closing, since “Someone’s Watching Me!” was a TV movie and there’s no trailer available for it, I’ll instead offer up the video for Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” mostly because that’s what I typed just about every goddamned time I wanted to type the actual title of this movie.

Damn you, Rockwell…! Damn you all to Hell!!!