Peeping Tom tells the story of a film cameraman who kills prostitutes by impaling them with the sharp point of his camera. The pleasure he gets from the murders comes from filming his victims as they die. At the time it was seen as a horror film, now it is considered as a powerful demonstration of both the victimisation of women under the male gaze, and of the voyeurism inherent in cinema. It is also a film of dark, unsettling humour. Peeping Tom destroyed Michael Powell's career in the wake of the howls of outrage that greeted the film. Now it is seen as one of his most completely realized works.