Stunning film a la Hitchcock from filmmaker Brian DePalma. The scenes and musical score are very provocative. Nancy Allen is superb as one of the cast in her innocent but street-wise role.
An homage to Vertigo and Psycho with two standout scenes, one in an art museum and another in an elevator. De Palma directs a typically fucked up story.
Hitchcock inspired madness with a yummy Angie Dickinson and a deceptively charming Michael Caine. The first half hour is very sexual - the next hour or so is very bloody.
For those of you that don't remember Brian DePalma when he was first starting out in big name features, let me tell you that he loved to rip off Alfred Hitchcock. Dressed to Kill is a prime example of what Hitchcock might have done if he had the R rating at his disposal.
Brian De Palma is America's Dario Argento, complete with a reciprocal visual vivaciousness in his directorial style and a psychosomatic sexual perturbation within his plotting.
"Dressed to Kill" epitomizes the prevailing traits of the giallo genre - beautiful women brutally murdered in the most beautiful of ways, severe sexual repression leading to eruptions of carnal violence, etc. - while concurrently making it wholly its own.
The plot fairly straight-forward and certainly is unoriginal, but this is due to the fact that De Palma's focus is not the narrative but rather a vigorous analysis of duality vis-a-vis his visual bravura.
Duality is the most dominant theme in Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" which is developed extensively through his creative fabrication of mise-en-scene. He populates the cinematic images with a multitude of motifs such as mirrors, windows, glass, and reflective surfaces to visualize this concept of duality.
However, this duality not only exhibits the characters' multiple identities, but also articulates the characterÂ?s' partitioned relations between one another. Let me clarify - The characters appear to be located on the same plane, and are visible to both one another and the audience, but are disconnected and isolated by a clear obstruction such as a window or shower door.
Indeed, this is De Palma's tour-de-force with its plethora of visual motifs that add a rick and textured subtext to the proceedings, making the film ripe for analysis and discussion.
absolutely amazing cinematography and scoring. those two departments alone earn this a high ranking on the murder mystery thriller scale. however, the characters were underdeveloped, the plot had numerous holes, and the acting was only slightly above mediocre. still, an excellent homage to Hitchcock and a great stand-alone thriller, even if it is sub-par in places.
This is a strange, strange movie. Is it Brian De Palma's attempt to lend artistic value to camp? A poorly-acted surrealist homage to Hitchcock? Or an attempt at a transsexual thriller? All I know is that I was really digging it up until the shitty ass ending. It goes on FOREVER. There's a psychological explanation of the killer's behavior lifted right out of Psycho, Nancy Allen babbling incessantly about the nature of a sex change operation, and the longest "one last scare! HAHAHA" sequence in the world. The film could have ended gracefully, and with ten minutes to spare, but I guess De Palma was feeling long-winded that day.
Anyway, I love how retroactively ingenious this is. The plot is built like a house of cards, entirely around coincidences, and it's so ridiculous that it actually works - and well, too. It's an incredibly exciting movie, even outside of the loony transvestite slashings, and it doesn't hurt that De Palma is his typical brilliant self behind the camera. If you fixed up the 27-year-old film and fashions, you could easily pass this off as an exceptional looking modern movie.
Anyway, I'm really not sure what this movie is. It sure fulfills all the requirements for camp, like the God-awful performances; seriously, Nancy Allen, your career's waiting for you in Hell. At first I wondered Michael Caine was there since he's normally a great actor, but I checked his IMDB page and he's done a surprising amount of shit. I guess he's one of those "do whatever comes my way" actors. The violence content is surprisingly low for camp, though, so I guess it's just a suspense movie with really bad movie elements.
I'll never be totally sold on Brian de Palma but this almost makes me want to give Blow Out another shot. Almost.
Glossy, classy, sexy thriller from Brian De Palma. Imitates Psycho a hell of alot (Main leading lady dies in first 15 minutes, long lingering over head shots, screeching violins, sexual/gender issues with main character,etc) but enjoyable to watch. Cinematography has a very italian movie feel.
Un film divertissant, mais qui a un peu mal vieilli. Ce genre d'intrigue semble très familière au spectateur de notre époque. La psychologie du meurtrier est pratiquement calquée sur celle de Norman Bates (Psycho), avec une touche un peu plus moderne dans son contexte. La photographie de certains plans est efficace, mais le style de réalisation fait un peu trop penser à du Dario Argento. On a l'impression que De Palma rend hommage à ses réalisateurs fétiches, mais sans jamais avoir mentionné leurs noms. Un pastiche habile, mais un pastiche quand même.
There's a great bit in the middle with no dialogue, but SPOILER!
Michael Caine in a dress still looks like Michael Caine... but in a dress. Even if I hadn't seen 'Psycho', the twist doesn't work when you've got somebody as big and masculine as Michael Caine.
Brian DePalma proves that he is a great director and the movie is a masterpiece in the aspects of camera technique etc. however the high occurrence of "erotic" shots is something that doesn't really appeal to me, neither do Transvestites.
At the same time very odd, and very typical of its director: tries too hard to shock with its lurid colours and violence, and doesn't try hard enough to convince its audiences that there's any real reason to carry on watching other than that of morbid curiosity.
I love some of the premiere sequences of this movie and alot the characters are great, but something about the story and its mechanics just didn't thrill me. Kind of an overrated remake of Psycho. Body Double was much better. :P
DePalma reworks elements of Psycho into a modern tale of transsexuals, psychopaths and the dangers of sexual infidelity. Still controversial with images of rape in a shower, slashings in an elevator and vengeful stalking produce a still shocking thriller. Angie Dickinson is terrific as the frustrated Manhattan woman (the scene in the art gallery is text book language of cinema - little dialogue, reaction to situations, steadicam) and although the 'twist' is obvious from early on, is no less enjoyable. Not for everyone but the genius cannot be denied!
Another De Palma suspense thriller from the 80's... This time starring Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Angie Dickinson and again with Dennis Franz co-starring. Not bad for the times...
Entertaining from the opening scene man! Michael Caine & Angie Dickinson give you lots to dig into, and De Palma gives you supreme satisfaction on the creepy meter!
Could have been flawless, but as it stands, Dressed to Kill is an excellent film. Though there are many little things that bring the film down, such as the laughably awful psychology (since when are transsexuals schizophrenics?), the way some scenes feel awkwardly goofy, and the dream ending which doesn't work at all, DePalma's direction is masterful (the art gallery sequence that sets the film in motion is amazing), the performances are all likeable, and the score is superb.
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