Dressed to Kill (1980)

John Chard February 14, 2014

★ 8/10

Erotico Psycho Dressed to Kill is directed and written by Brian De Palma. It stars Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon and Dennis Franz. Music is by Pino Donaggio and cinematography by Ralf D. Bode. Brian De Palma continues his commitment to Hitchcock thrillers with this erotic and lurid slice of entertainment pie. Plot in short order finds a razor wielding blonde woman on the loose in the city. A high class prostitute, a psychiatrist and the son of a victim try to solve the mystery before they themselves fall to the blonde killer. De Palma throws it all at the audience here, merrily pushing people's buttons as he goes. He uses all the tools and tricks of his trade for maximum impact, blending a number of genre staples and churning out a hyper stylised neo-noir that gleefully toys with audience expectations. Oh the plot is bonkers, deliriously so, but De Pa…

slayrrr666 March 15, 2017

★ 7/10

Following a housewife’s brutal murder, the only witness to the incident teams up with the woman’s son to try to find the culprit which leads them to the patient of a psychiatrist who treated her and tries to stop the killer from striking them in order to cover the crime. This one turned out to be quite the rather enjoyable effort. A lot of the film’s great parts come from the manner in which this one deals with the expectations featured here of the film by following so close to its influences. As it follows so close to the main format here, as the general structure employed here comes directly with the structure of having the first half focus solely on the victim to get killed off and then morph over into the investigation into the incidents, that makes for a great deal of fun here as it deals with the few changes to be had with the storyline. That familiarity lends itself a gre…

GenerationofSwine January 14, 2023

★ 10/10

It is an enjoyable film...but one with several natural endings. And that kind of makes for a fail. You're ready for the movie to be over after it concludes and then you wait until it concludes again, and then you wait until is actually concludes. However, it is tense, which is a De Palma hallmark, he knows how to make for a tense thriller, and that is where the appeal is, that is what really sets Dressed to Kill above a lot of other films. It plays on the nerves.

Wuchak October 24, 2023

★ 7/10

**_Sordid Hitchcockian crime thriller set in the heart of the Big Apple_** A sexually frustrated housewife in Manhattan (Angie Dickinson) does something foolish, which leads to a crime witnessed by an upscale prostitute (Nancy Allen). A therapist (Michael Caine), a detective (Dennis Franz) and a whiz kid (Keith Gordon) help try to solve the case. Helmed by Brian De Palma, "Dressed to Kill" (1980) is a psychological drama/thriller in the tradition of Hitchcock. You’ll see bits borrowed from “Rear Window,” “North by Northwest,” “Psycho” and De Palma’s own “Carrie.” Some of the subway sequences are reminiscent of “The Warriors” from the year prior. Speaking of which, there’s a cartoonish, over-the-top quality to the proceedings that smacks of “A Touch of Evil.” The theme revolves around sexual lust, such as the carnal need of some women to feel desired,…