Dressed to Kill

A great suspense movie with terrific slow camera-work adding to the dramatics makes this a treat to watch and enjoy. Director-writer Brian de Palma does a super Hitchcock-imitation (many called it a "ripoff") with this film and the 2.35:1 widescreen DVD is a must to fully appreciate the camera-work (and several scenes with people hiding on each side which are lost on formatted-for-TV tapes).

The downside of the movie, at least to anyone that has some kind of moral standard, is the general sleaziness of all the characters, including the policeman played by a pre-NYPD Dennis Franz (who has hair here!).

The opening scene is still shocking with a fairly long shower scene of Angie Dickinson that is quite explicit, even 25 years after its release. The film has several erotic scenes in it as Dickinson (if that is really her on the closeups) and Nancy Allen are not shy about showing their bodies.

There is not much dialog in the first 20 minutes and no bad language until Franz enters the picture after the murder. The first 36 minutes are riveting and even though it's apparent who the killer is, it's still very good suspense and fun to watch all the way through, particularly for males ogling the naked women.

Brian de Palma's erotic suspense psycho thriller/horror has more than just a nod to Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" (1960), however I do not wish to give away any spoilers so I won't say what de Palma has lifted from Hitch's movie. Psycho is easily the better of the two movies but Kill is far more graphic, both in terms of sex and nudity and violence/gore. Very low body count but the lift scene is incredibly bloody. The movie looks great and has some very good suspense. Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen are the lead players but Dennis Franz as vulgar New York cop Detective Marino gets my vote as best character. Heavily cut on VHS and for TV but the Blu-ray is uncut, highly recommended. Good looking movie, I enjoyed it but just found the killer reveal to be not very plausible, shame really, I'd like to have scored it higher but it gets a pretty solid 7/10 from me.

I became rather intrigued with De Palma after watching Blow Out (1981) and one of my friends, who is a De Palma enthusiast, recommended Dressed to Kill based on my love for the former. De Palma's earlier films are, in my opinion, far more interesting than some of his more famous later works like Scarface or The Untouchables. Dressed To Kill feels to me like a Hitchcock film with a dash of Dario Argento; it's meticulously and artfully directed, but it contains scenes of sudden shocking, bloody violence and, at times, gratuitous sex. It feels like a high-class Gialo film in the best way possible.

I believe it was one of the best works of Mr De Palma. I like the story it was wonderful & I it took me almost after 75 min of watching movie to take guess who could be the mysterious killer and when I find out I got quiet excited although 10 minutes later everybody knew who's the killer. but all in all I enjoyed that and I could call it one of the best Mystery, Thriller movies I have ever seen of curse with breath taking ending. I should say the acting of Michael Caine & Nancy Allen were perfect.

When you compare what Brian De Palma was doing in the 80's to what passes for entertainment today, his films keep looking better and better. "Dressed To Kill, "Blow Out", "Body Double", "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way" are all superb works of a cinematic craftsman at the peak of his powers. The guy had a long run of better than average films. This is pure Hitchcock with an 80's dash of lurid perversion, an affectionately told tale of lust and murder with plenty of twists, huge helpings of style, a stunning Pino Donaggio score, and a trashy, giallo-inspired plot. De Palma's love of complex camera-work and luscious, blood-smudged visuals helps overcome the logical holes while the terrific performances of Dennis Franz, Keith Gordon (a good director in his own right), Nancy Allen (De Palma's wife at the time) and Michael Caine make every scene special. Let the virtuoso take you on a surreal, scary, erotically charged odyssey and you'll enjoy every frame of "Dressed To Kill".