Someone is Watching (DVD, 2006)

Michelle Dupre (Stephanie Powers), a DNA researcher, is a single mother who adopted her son, Cory Dupre (Mickey Toft), now a 6yo. Having just moved into a new home, Ms. Dupre is trying to overcome the trauma of a burglary at their former residence. She's still having nightmares & flashbacks.

Her former boyfriend, Charles Jensen (Barry Flatman), is making her feel nearly stalked by showing up uninvited, watching her from his car & acting as if they are still romantically involved. Fortunately, a new welcoming neighbor, Sally Beckert (Margot Kidder), arrives with cookies & later with a portrait she painted of an angel. Beckert is a colorful character who immediately discloses to Dupre that she can sense energy, supernaturally. She also has a psychic friend who is considered quite skilled at 'reading' past histories.

Very strange events occur immediately after the Dupres get settled into their new home. The landlord, Robert Culley (Doug Lennox), lives next door with an adult son, Bobby 'BJ' Culley (Martin Neufeld), who appears with his face flush against Dupre's kitchen window. Scaring the already traumatized woman out of her wits, she phones the police. But, her landlord Culley arrives before they do & convinces her it was just his unwell son "Bobby" & promises that it won't happen again as he begs her not to tell the police. When detective Joe Carvelli (Stewart Bick) arrives & finds the senior Culley at her door, reluctantly, Dupre pretends it was a case of mistaken identity--meaning, it was only landlord Culley.

As Dupre moves on with her life, Sally Beckert becomes Cory's babysitter. Cory's developed what his mom calls an imaginary friend in his closet named, "BJ." He's more interested in being upstairs playing in his room with "BJ" than going to his favorite playground, in fact. On a night when Sally is babysitting, she hears someone in the house upstairs & when the police arrive it's detective Joe Carvelli again. After searching the house they find one of Cory's robots banging up against the closet & think that's the cause of the noise. When Dupre arrives home & finds Carvelli there again, the chemistry between him & her grows very warm. He asks her out for dinner & she accepts. Old boyfriend Charles is in fact stalking, following them to dinner.

Something violent has happened in the Dupre home before. Michelle & Sally are both determined in their different ways, one doing research, the other bringing the psychic, to find out what happened in their new home. In the meantime, Michelle is getting numerous hang up phone calls. When she adds star 69 to her phone service as Sally suggests, she phones the caller back & it's Charles.

The DVD is 95 mins, English, stereo, standard full frame, not rated & made me jumpy as the suspense built. There were enough possibilities to keep me wondering who was up to what. Stephanie Powers is not on the screen enough. She's a terrific actor with nearly perfect diction. Plus, she's ever so elegantly attractive. Margot Kidder plays a marvelously lively neighbor who has very clever comical lines. She's the one who gives a viewer a break as the tension builds. Mickey Toft is a marvelous young actor who did a superb job not just with his script but also with his ability to play a character & stay in role during a near horror story. I bought this DVD to see Stephanie Powers perform again. I've missed her & this movie reminds me of why. I love how naturally she puts on a character.

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