Review of Sisters (1973) by Stella D — 28 Aug 2009

Here Brian de Palma has put together a warped, exciting foray into body horror, giving us enough gore and disfigurement to be shocking but not enough to oversaturate us. Sisters is a simple mystery film that just happens to be peppered with gruesome imagery; the opening credits alone, a collection of fetus pictures magnified to emphasize their bizarre forms, succeed in luring you in almost immediately. It takes the movie about half an hour to really get going, but de Palma doesn't seem particularly concerned about the slowness of the plot. It follows a typical three-act structure with a protagonist switch at the end of the first act, similar to Psycho. Its construction of a likable lead who is subsequently removed from the film makes the film more emotionally involving. It hasn't aged perfectly and may seem a little bit transparent to the cynical viewer (most notable in the consistently incompetent police force) but movies and cinematic culture were different 35 years ago, for better or worse.

Anyway, I love the Siamese twin conceit, the profoundly surreal "flashback" sequence in the last fifteen minutes of the film, the movie's occasional inclination toward visceral physical violence, and the sadistic tease of an ending. Even if it's a little obsolete narratively, Sisters was ahead of its time in many other regards. This feels like some crossbreed between Cronenberg and Lynch, years before either of them had even made a mainstream film: the fascination with body horror, use of bizarre aesthetics, and unusual female figures are all there. To address that latter point, Margot Kidder is a delight here (as an added bonus, she was completely crazy! Read her IMDB bio), and Jennifer Salt is an energetic and thoroughly watchable heroine.

If you're a de Palma fan, this is absolutely mandatory viewing. Conceivably my new favorite of his films.