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Often dismissed by critics without any since of insight
as a deriviative, boring director who apes Hitchcock, Brian
DePalma continues to be an underestimated director; while
DePalma certainly does mine much of the same deep, dark
cave of the human psyche as Hitchcock did, DePalma does
so creating post-modernist films that are filled with a
sense of self awareness of a film WHILE you are watching
it. DePalma also delights in his own perverse way in our
lack of comfort with sex and sexuality. In fact the two
directors that DePalma is MOST comparable to would be David
Lynch or David Cronenberg (much more so with Cronenberg)
who both have taken elements of the Hitchcockian thriller
and driven them into much darker, disturbing and surreal
territory. Like Cronenberg DePalma's films tend to have
an element of perverse satire mixed into the thriller elements
often just this side of laugh-out-loud comic moments. That
doesn't mean he doesn't take the thriller as a genre seriously--he
does. One of my colleagues at dvdtalk once compared DePalma
to Sergio Leone in that he takes the moments in his films
to an almost absurd operatic level and that comparison does,
indeed, hold true for DePalma (like Leone) has a post-modernist
take on the genre as a whole and while intergrating all
the elements he has learned from other directors, he also
points to their absurdity making us even more aware of the
fact with a wink and a nudge that we are watching a film,
an entertainment and it's almost as if DePalma is daring
the audience to accept each over-the-top moment and try
to divorce themselves from the fact that they are watching
an entertainment. ***
Hitchcock himself briefly took up the post-modernist
mantle with his thriller "Frenzy" which showed that he had
studied what his disiciples were doing in film. "Frenzy"
shares a lot more in common with "Dressed to Kill" than
"Psycho" from the tone and approach to the material (the
superficial resemblence between "Psycho" and "Dressed to
Kill" is a bit more pronounced although it is entirely that--superificial).
If Hitchcock had lived and been in good health it's hard
to judge what type of films he might have made in the wake
of his conventional thriller "Family Plot" (Hitchcock did
return to more conventional narratives after making a film
that challenged him--it was almost like he needed to recharge
his batteries for the next assault on moviegoers) but, I
suspect, he would have tried to continue to push the boundary
much as DePalma and Cronenberg (and later David Lynch) did
of the thriller. Hitchcock was a late bloomer reaching his
peak as a director while in his 50's and 60's (although
he did lose his way for a spell after "The Birds"). ***
I remember going with my older sister to see "Dressed
to Kill" and being embarrassed at how sexually blunt the
movie was. While I was prepared for this somewhat with other
DePalma thrillers I didn't quite expect it to be quite so--blunt
particularly during a scene involving one of our characters
in the shower pleasuring herself. Some have complained that
this element brings a cheesy porn style into the film unnecessarily
but I would disagree--it's all part of DePalma's plan to
make us uncomfortable and push us away from key moments
of the film and then lure us back in again keeping us as
viewers off balance. ***
"Dressed to Kill" allows De Palma to take on "Psycho"
style thrillers with his own pop psychological slasher fest.
In "Dressed to Kill" a transsexual serial killer named Bobbi
stalks a hooker Liz (Nancy Allen) after she witnesses a
brutal murder. Liz ends up working with the one of a victim
Peter (Keith Gordon who later turned to directing himself),
a world weary police detective (Dennis Franz) and a reluctant
ally the killer's psychatrist (Michael Caine) who is also
getting creepy updates on his message machine from his former
patient. Revealing anything else would spoil the fun of
DePalma's film so we'll leave the plot details a bit vague.
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Image & Sound:
"Dressed to Kill" isn't what I would call a demonstration
quality Blu-ray but it is a substanial upgrade over the
DVD that MGM put out a couple of years back. Colors are
bolder, detail is better and although blacks are occasionally
crushed on the whole this version improves with a sharper
presentation of the film. ***
The 5.1 lossless presentation sounds quite nice giving
ample room to Pino Donaggio's marvelous over-the-top Herrman
styled music score. Dialogue remains crystal clear throughout
and the surround presentation although not as active as
a more modern film sounds quite nice. ---
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