To celebrate DRESSED TO KILL hitting Blu-ray let's talk about horror's most celebrated and polarizing auteur, Brian De Palma. He's had a pretty varied and unique career spanning decades and genres, but for this poll let's just consider his thrillers...of which there are plenty. What'll it be?
Carrie. It has excellent replay for me. Blow Out is a damn fine film though and I need to get the Criterion blu.
Sisters, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out are all great films--but Body Double is the one that made me fall in love with De Palma's style. :glasses:
carrie went from being one of my least favorite films to being my favorite of his. funny how your opinions can change. a few great movies on that list. and some not so great ones. but carrie's the best of the best.
In terms of story and social importance I'd say BLOW OUT, but there's something about the masterful way DePalma sets up his characters like dominoes in CARRIE that makes it so compulsively watchable for me. FEMME FATALE certainly has a lurid and lucid directness that makes it feel more mature than the rest of his works. Other than those three films, the rest on the list for me consist of great, memorable set pieces that standout amidst flawed or indifferent stories.
Blow Out was the film that introduced me to De Palma and I think it was the first time I saw something without the typical Hollywood ending. Completely blew me away despite it airing on TV all cropped and cut up to hell and I've loved De Palma ever since.
1 - Blow Out 2 - Dressed to Kill 3 - Carrie 4 - Body Double 5 - Raising Cain Even if Carrie is the one i saw the most, Blow Out is my favorite. I love Dressed to Kill. The first time i saw Body Double i was around 14yrs. Here the movie is rated 18+. So trust me when i said that THE murder scene come in my mind when i think about Body Double. Raising Cain, i love it. The movie is funny and John Lightow is excellent. And there a long "one take" shot is this movie that is impressive.
DePalma has made a lot of fine thrillers but I find myself drawn to his first all out Hitchcockian shocker SISTERS.Here he takes concepts familiar from earlier works (like REAR WINDOW and PSYCHO) and gives them a spin all his own.A truly twisted little number (with a couple of great death scenes) SISTERS boasts a very good cast.Underrated Jennifer Salt (who went on to produce NIP/TUCK ) is great as the hard charging heroine and Margot Kidder is at her very best as the title characters.Add to that fun turns by DePalma faves William Finlay and Charles Durning (those two also turned up in DePalma's THE FURY) and one of Bernard Hermann's last (and creepiest) scores and you have an unheralded winner.Great use of editing and split screen work as well.For a film made on a box lunch budget SISTERS looks great.The last shot is among my favorites in the genre.
"Carrie" and "Blow Out" neck and neck for the top spot. "Carrie" probably gets the edge but I've seen it so many times over the years its brilliance has been watered down a bit for me. I also have a soft spot for "Obsession." I won't say it's one of his best but I saw it when I was very young and it left a lasting impression. The whole incest subplot really freaked me out.
Sisters for me. I love that scene where Margot Kidder goes cuckoo in the apartment and slits that dood up.
Carrie, The Fury and Blow Out are all pretty close for me, but I'm going to give the edge to The Fury simply because no woman ever has or ever will look hotter than Amy Irving did in that movie.
Blow Out all the way! It's one of my all time favorite movies too, but Carrie is definitely just behind it because Carrie is one of those I grew up with.
Of those I've seen, I would probably have to say The Fury. But I'm biased since I hate Scanners so much. I need to give Blow Out another try though and I've owned Dressed to Kill on DVD for 3 years and still haven't rewatched it yet.
Sony released a Special Edition DVD in 2006. No Blu-ray yet. Amazon.com By coincidence, I just watched Body Double again last night. Highly enjoyable film and Deborah Shelton (playing Gloria Revelle) sure was beautiful and sexy back in 1984. Damn, she was good lookin'. Oh, and what the hell ever happened to Craig Wasson?
