Peekaboo (2014)

Canada / 12 minutes / color with some bw / Dark Room, DarqueAlley, Evangelos Dir & Scr: Spiro K Pr: Spiro K, Angelo Karell, Laquita Lisi Story: “Peekaboo” (1979 in Nightmares ed Charles L. Grant) by Bill Pronzini Cine: Laquita Lisi, Angelo Karell Cast: Spiro K, Alex Georgiadis, Peter Georgiadis, Angelo Karell, Stephanie Kelly, Nick Karoubalis, Jonathan Flynn, Laquita Lisi.

A bank robbery went wrong in Boston. The thieves managed to transfer $12 million but, as they escaped, the cops arrived and there was a shootout. Two young boys playing peekaboo nearby, William and Kenneth Reilly (Alex and Peter Georgiadis), were killed in the crossfire, and one of the robbers, Bobby Lee Grant (Karell), now lies in the hospital in a coma. The other, Roper (K), goes on the run, renting a swanky furnished house in Whitehall, NY, where he plans to pass the time writing fiction until the heat dies down. The realtor (Kelly) warns him that the house was built by witches and that earlier tenants have been spooked, but of course he pooh-poohs this.

He’s not quite so offhand when, in the cellar, he finds an array of cards on the floor, the central one bearing the words

I SEE YOU

And he’s even less amused when, later, he hears on the radio that Grant has been found murdered in his hospital room despite 24-hour police surveillance; on the wall, in Grant’s blood, were scrawled the words

I SEE YOU

It’s a fortnight after the robbery when Roper hears a bump in the night and, nervously, combs the house, gun in hand. Pausing in the kitchen, he has a sort of fevre dream, a horrific vision in which he sees Grant, the two kids and his own suicide. Waking, he finds himself drawn to the cellar . . .

Roper (Spiro K) searches the house.

It was of course the Pronzini connection that attracted me to this taut little chiller. Despite the noirish setting—the failed bank robbery, etc.—this is really just a nicely creepy story rather than anything truly noirish. In its opening credits Peekaboo declares itself to be merely a fan movie, but this is selling itself rather short. The technical aspects of the movie are fully professional and the acting by and large falls not too far short. It’s a great little piece with a genuine shudder at the end.

Roper’s vision of the two boys (Alex and Peter Georgiadis).

The director has posted this movie to YouTube.