Martin Scorsese Birthday: When Ace Director SAVED Classic Slasher Film Peeping Tom

Slasher films are a genre that people took a lot of time to understand and even more to accept. So, the early slasher movies, that are considered to be classic now, were called weird when they were first released. Cinephiles understood the brilliance of such movies later. However, Shutter Island director Martin Scorsese isn't just any cinephile, he had an eye for good cinema from the start. On his 84th birthday, let us revisit how he saved Michael Powell's Peeping Tom.

What was Peeping Tom about? Peeping Tom, made by Micheal Powell in 1960 was a slasher film that was considered too brazen at that time because of its blatant violence and voyeurism. The film is about Mark Lewis (Karlheinz Boehm), a documentarian serial killer. Mark films his victims, all young women, at their moment of death to capture primal fear, which gives him a kick. The film was unanimously rejected by all major critics. Talking about the film, Boehm had once said to Planet Interview, "We were very surprised that there was no applause at the end of the film... Not one came maybe just to shake hands with us. We were completely stunned." ALSO READ: Martin Scorsese's impact Martin Scorsese was introduced to Michael Powell at a very young age when he saw The Red Shoes, directed by Powell and his friend Emeric Pressburger, which left a, 'very strong impression' on him. Scorsese first learned Peeping Tom through fellow filmmaker Jim McBride. Scorsese admits that when he first saw the film, his reaction was, "Could this have been the same man who made 'The Red Shoes,' made this picture? Could that be?" However, he came to appreciate it later and stated, "Powell dared where no one else had before him, to show us how close movie-making could come to madness, how it could eat you up, he was telling an extremely uncomfortable truth, something no one really wanted to know."Corinth Films approached Scorsese during the production of Raging Bull to re-release Peeping Tom under the banner, Martin Scorsese Presents and offered the director $5,000 for his participation. Scorsese agreed under the condition that he receive a print of the film. The film got its second breath of life when it opened at the New York Film Festival in October 1979 and was praised. The film eventually got termed as a classic and made it to several 'best film lists'.