Rorret

Stars: Lou Castel (The Eyes, The Mouth), Anna Galiena. Joseph Rorret ("terror" spelled backwards) is the reclusive owner of the Peeping Tom Cinema, a film house which only shows horror films and thrillers. While clever parodies such as Blood In The Shower--a take-off on Psycho-- play on the big screen, Rorret hides behind the curtain onstage and peeks through his opera glasses at the expressions of the women in the audience. Picking out a victim, he later follows and plays out his own violent fantasy. While, on one level, Rorret is the story of a creepy little man whose fear and self-loathing drive him to murder women, of whom he is secretly terrified (in other words, the plot of a million slasher films), the movie goes beyond the surface to explore the act of watching movies itself. And while it falters a bit in the final scene, Rorret works nicely overall as a chiller, a philosophical reflection on the movies, and an homage to great thrillers (in addition to Psycho, there are recreations from Dial M For Murder, Strangers On a Train, and Peeping Tom, among others). Audience: Film buffs, for sure, but also people looking for strange thrillers.