10 Creepiest Movies About Stalkers

By Jack Morrell /

10. Play Misty For Me (1971)

Playing against type for a change, Clint Eastwood cast himself as the radio DJ who€™s bugged by an obsessive female fan in his directorial debut. Meeting a woman at his local bar named Evelyn, our protagonist Dave the DJ drives her home, where she coyly reveals that she€™d meant to meet him there: she remembered him mentioning the place on his show. It turns out she€™s a repeat caller to his show, who always asks him to play €˜Misty€™, the jazz piano standard. Her confession doesn€™t trouble him in the slightest €“ hey, this is the seventies €“ and he sleeps with her anyway, thereby proving once again to a promiscuous and immoral world that casual sex can absolutely kill you in the face. Evelyn proceeds to haunt Dave€™s life in more and more deranged fashion, reappearing increasingly violently in his life despite his attempts to let her down easily. Matters come to a head when she kidnaps Dave€™s new girlfriend, killing a cop in the process. Dave replaces his live show with a tape and surprises Evelyn, overpowering her, and she falls to her death, while the radio in the background replays a younger, happier Dave putting on €˜Misty€™ for her one last time€ Play Misty For Me is a cracking directorial debut for anyone, let alone a big lug famous for playing laconic cowboys. The sexual politics of the story are a little dicey but, again €“ it was the seventies. It€™s Jessica Walter€™s performance that makes this a classic, though. The future Lucille Bluth is a revelation in the role that would make her career, completely committed in several senses of the word, by turns adorable and utterly hatstand.