Die Schwestern des Bösen

Brian De Palma is often unfairly dismissed as "that guy that rips off Hitchcock", a statement that overlooks the variety of his output. Of his twenty-odd full length movies only a handful have been thrillers, in fact before 'Sisters' he was best know as a maker of quirky comedies like 'Greetings' and 'Get To Know Your Rabbit'. 'Sisters' was De Palma's first foray into Hitchcock territory, and I think his subsequent stereotyping shows just how impressive he was in this genre. He has made several more famous and successful movies subsequent to this one, but it still remains one of his most entertaining works. Margot Kidder, a few years prior to her fame as Lois Lane, is brilliant as troubled separated siamese twins with a secret. Jennifer Salt ('Midnight Cowboy') plays a spunky newspaper columnist who believes she has witnessed one of the twins commit a murder (a deliberate nod to 'Rear Window'). She cannot get the police to believe her and begins to do her own investigations, helped by a small time private eye Larch (Charles Durning - 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?'). She finds out that there is a lot more to the sisters' than meets the eye, and vows to find out what is really going on. Kidder is of course the star of the movie, but equally memorable is De Palma regular William Finley ('The Phantom Of The Paradise', 'Eaten Alive') in a wonderfully creepy performance as one of twins ex-husband. Kidder and Finley and De Palma's assured direction, which includes a brilliant murder sequence and cool use of split screen in another, make this a thriller that won't easily be forgotten. Highly recommended.