Review of Dressed to Kill (1980) by Travis J — 01 Jun 2012
I've set out to watch all of Brian DePalma's films, having had seen only 'Sisters', 'Carrie', 'Body Double' and 'Scarface'.
This film begins with a ridiculously protracted scene of some old lady masturbating in the shower. It seems that this is her fantasy, which becomes a rape fantasy. Cut to her screwing her husband in bed with the TV on. Afterwards, she visits her psychiatrist to complain to him that the husband is a lousy fuck.
Next she goes to an art museum and stares at some ugly painting of a woman's face (for nearly a quarter of the films' running time) whist making what appears to be a grocery list (eggnog, turkey...).
This film is violent, pornographic and completely preposterous yet somehow manages to be mostly tedious. Despite the 376 or so Hitchcock references, it appears that DePalma was trying to make something like an American giallo. He failed.
The murder scene in the elevator is great, though.
A character says: "Maybe instead of building a computer, I should be building a woman - out of meat.".
The final shot is identical to that of 'Carrie'.
This review of Dressed to Kill (1980) was written by Travis J on 01 Jun 2012.
Dressed to Kill has generally received positive reviews.
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