Dressed to Kill
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Movie Reviews of Dressed to Kill
Movie Review: Dressed to Kill DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought it was great quality. The digital restoration was very good. It also has the option of choosing the "R" rated version or the unrated version.Movie Review: Nice 2.35 version
Summary: 5 Stars
A true 2.35 format. I had an hideous VHS tape of this movie, but here is a very good copy.Movie Review: Learning At The Feet Of Hitchcock
Summary: 4 Stars
Alfred Hitchcock's style of filmmaking is the one that has probably been the most copied of any filmmaker ever in Hollywood, for the simple reason that he perfected the art of cinematic suspense. And perhaps no director has been more accused of allegedly blatantly imitating the Master than Brian DePalma. Such accusations are not completely accurate, however, and they don't tell the whole story. The film in DePalma's canon that is so often cited by critics as his being so blatantly imitative of the portly Englishman is the 1980 thriller DRESSED TO KILL.
The film places the great Angie Dickinson in the role of a frustrated single mother with sexual desires that she confides in to her psychiatrist (Michael Caine), desires that include one nightmarish sequence of her being strangled in her shower. She follows a mysterious man through a Manhattan art gallery; but when she returns home, a blonde psychopath brutally slashes her to death in her apartment complex's elevator.
In the interim, the police, including a very profane detective (Dennis Franz, of "NYPD Blue" fame), are looking into the crime and have somehow managed to finger a blonde hooker (Nancy Allen) who had been seen around Dickinson's residence. The problem is, however, that she isn't the real perpetrator (a very tried-and-true Hitchcock conceit, an innocent person accused of a crime they didn't commit); and she teams up with Dickinson's whiz-kid son (Keith Gordon) to find who really did it. All the evidence seems to point to another patient of Caine's with some sexual issues. The end results are positively spine-chilling.
By any stretch of the imagination, DRESSED TO KILL is quite obviously inspired by Hitchcock's PSYCHO, although there are also significant references to the Master's earlier classics VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW as well. The big difference, of course, is that, whereas Hitchcock was largely limited in what he could show onscreen because of the censorship restrictions in place prior to 1968 (which worked wonders in PSYCHO), DePalma didn't have those limitations, and was allowed to show more direct sex and violence, though it never really came all that close to pornography or the overblown blood-and-guts horrors of FRIDAY THE 13TH, which was also released in 1980. Dickinson is quite good in what was an atypical kind of film for her; and Caine, one of the great actors of our time, is equally fine. Pino Donnagio's score, not surprisingly, is very close in feel to what Bernard Herrmann provided for Hitchcock's masterworks.
Despite a somewhat cliched trick ending (repeating in some ways what DePalma did at the end of CARRIE, and John Boorman at the end of DELIVERANCE) and a very hammy acting job by Franz, DRESSED TO KILL is a very strong psychological horror/suspense film at a time when blood and guts were starting to flood the horror genre (though the year 1980 also gave us Kubrick's masterpiece THE SHINING, too). Films like this are even rarer nowadays in Hollywood than they were back then, and they need to be treasured.
Movie Review: 'Pure Cinema' thrill-machine, one of De Palma's best
Summary: 4 Stars
DRESSED TO KILL
(USA - 1980)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Theatrical soundtrack: Mono
Brian De Palma's superb thriller borrows the plot structure of PSYCHO (1960) to tell a completely original story in a manner which Hitchcock would surely have admired. The 'Pure Cinema' approach deployed here also evokes the best work of Dario Argento, though De Palma clearly has his own agenda. His script attends the fall-out from a terrifying attack on a frustrated housewife (Angie Dickinson) by a razor-wielding maniac who then turns his/her attentions to the sole witness, a streetwise hooker (Nancy Allen) who teams up with Dickinson's teenage son (Keith Gordon) when she becomes a suspect in the case.
A masterful example of visual storytelling, DRESSED TO KILL employs constantly roving camerawork to propel complex characters through a series of bravura set-pieces (the museum, the elevator, the subway, etc.), filmed in breathtaking Panavision by the late cinematographer Ralf Bode. At a time when most current scope movies are designed primarily for TV - which rather defeats the whole purpose of scope photography! - it's a revelation to see the entire width of the 2.39:1 frame being used to define characters and advance the plot through an accumulation of visual tricks and counterpoints. Pino Donaggio's memorable score provides an often thunderous accompaniment to the on-screen horrors, and it's refreshing to find a grown-up cast (including a restrained Michael Caine) making the most of a scenario which addresses mature themes in an intelligent manner. This intense thriller refuses to sacrifice integrity for the sake of cheap shocks, but it still manages to scale the dizzying heights of genuine horror.
De Palma and the film's principal contributors charted the film's production in a number of documentary extras included on the original US DVD edition, and while some of their comments may have seemed a little too self-congratulatory at the time, they also provided fascinating insights into De Palma's working methods and the motivation behind some of the devices employed by the director to tell his story. In a special section detailing his collision with the MPAA, De Palma wearily defends the film from charges of misogyny and explicit violence, and his views are supported by the likes of Angie Dickinson, amongst others. Besides, anyone who thinks THIS is misogynist obviously hasn't seen the likes of THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982), RED TO KILL (1994), or some of the more squalid dregs from the Japanese sex-and-torture subgenre. Now THERE'S misogyny for you!!
Movie Review: 3.5 STARS: A very good Hitchcockian styled thriller/hybrid horror flick.
Summary: 4 Stars
Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" is a very good suspense thriller/horror movie. The similarities between "Dressed to Kill" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" are clear and very well defined. "Dressed to Kill" starts out with a sexually unsatisfied middle-aged woman who sees a psychiatrist played by Michael Caine. The woman struggles with her sexual worth and displays a reckless attitude in a chance encounter with some stranger at a museum.
De Palma, like Hitchcock, uses classic cinematic misdirection to fool the audience into perhaps thinking that this middle-aged woman is the main character and her emotional problems are central to the movie's plot. So, what De Palma sets up to be as a drama or maybe even a love story turns into something much darker and much more horrific. Out of the blue comes a brutal murder that shocks the audience and changes the focus and expectations of the audience into what could have been a drama focused on a middle aged woman dealing with problems regarding her sexuality to a suspense thriller which is styled like a hybrid thriller/horror movie. The result is a very effective movie which truly shocks the conscience of the audience and creates a terrific little mystery for the viewer to put together.
The question in this movie becomes who is the murderer and what was the motive...De Palma hypnotizes the audience into a psychological thriller delving into the scary and dark world of the unconscious mind, classic psychosis and multiple personality disorder. Indeed, De Palma borrows heavily from Hitchcock with overtones of "Psycho" and other Hitchcock films to create an interesting movie that is able to stand on its own merits despite strong reliance on Hitchcockian techniques and style. Still, "Dressed to Kill" has that dream-like De Palma signature to it which is classic De Palma. The movie moves along with a murder mystery and De Palma provides the audience with another horrifying surprise or two to make "Dressed to Kill" into a clearly enjoyable horror movie viewing experience.
While not a classic nor a pure horror movie, "Dressed to Kill" is a must own hybrid horror/thriller or suspense movie that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Hitchcockian styled suspense thrillers with an element of horror to it...you won't be disappointed. "Dressed to Kill" is almost a FOUR STAR movie in my opinion, but if you have read any of my reviews, you will know that 3.5 STARS is an excellent grade coming from this reviewer.