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Dressed to Kill

Dressed to Kill

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $11.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: spell binding
Review: I forgot what a great movie this was. A must for caine fans. They do not make movies like this today. A treat from beginning to end, with a twist.I am trying to locate a copy of 'the ipcress files' can anyone help me?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Among Top 10 of all times!
Review: I have seen hundreds of movies over years, but I never forget this one. This is a psycho-like movie but even better! High tension and a big surprise at the end. BTW, Angie Dickinson looks great there!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Scary!
Review: Probably one of the scariest movies I've ever seen, and with Angie Dickenson at her sexiest (check her out in the opening shower scene). I guessed who the killer was early-on, but I never knew when the scares were coming. Don't watch it alone!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: DePalma's Best
Review: Hold tight. The terrifying and notorious elevator scene would be enough to recommend this gripping thriller - and that's only the beginning! Hitchcock rip-off? Hardly (if anything, it owes something to Bunuel). If you were frightened by "Scream," that's kid-stuff compared to this classic shocker.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Straitforward, trivial variation on the theme of Psycho
Review: This unbelievably boring, uninventive thriller that borrows too much from Hitchcock's Psycho (shower murders, double identity of the killer, death of the main heroine, etc.) is quite possibly Brian De Palma's worst movie that I have seen so far.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Glossy, meaningless, and occasionally scary
Review: Brian de Palma knew his 1970s audience. When choosing what film to see at the cinema (if you had a choice in those days), it was difficult for many men to persuade their girlfriends to choose an out-and-out erotic movie. (The cinema scene in 'Carry On Camping' gives you some idea of the prevailing attitudes.) So, much like the Hammer movies, de Palma wrapped up the sex in a glossy horror thriller coating. Bizarrely, girls found it much easier to tell their mums that they'd be going to see 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' than 'Swedish Nurses Get Hot', or whatever.

But watching this movie with 25 years of hindsight, when people tend to be more open about sex, you have to wonder what was the point of this film, and what was an actor as good as Michael Caine doing in it. Angie Dickinson, another highly paid actress of the era, is also in it, but frankly her death is so badly acted that you could fairly say she deserved this film.

De Palma is a great user of that "Actually it was all a dream" device that we're warned to avoid in creative writing classes. So we get two dream sequences -- each with a central shower scene -- which are both flimsy excuses to get the clothes off his leading ladies (Dickinson and Nancy Allen). Despite the partial use of a body-double for Dickinson, these are attractive, gripping scenes, and probably the highlights of the movie.

The less said about the geekish son and the police detective, the better. Allen's redemption from NY hooker to sleep-alone companion (in chintz night attire!) to the son is also less than convincing.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: You can actually watch this film.
Review: and understand exactly why it's so purely mediocre (hint: the acting. Allen and Dickinson aren't capable of better and Caine needed the bucks, apparently), or you can just read some of the "reviews" below that give the whole film away, and save the time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: By the way, I borrowed your razor...
Review: First-class entertainment with a great cast, superb direction, a classy script, great suspense and a beautiful music score. Angie Dickonson, Michael Caine and Nancy Allen are the main cast members and are also the main highlights of the film. The elevator scene is absolutely chilling. In the vein of "Psycho," this is one of Brian De Palma's best in the entertainment and shock department. Highly recommended. See the uncensored version if possible.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Tranny Rampage!
Review: With shrinks like these, it's no wonder Norman Bates, Jame Gumb and the mysterious 'Bobbi' went nuts...

Annihoo, here's another 'seminal' and 'classic' and 'cult' de Palma thriller from the golden-age of Hollywood Nudity. Isn't it amazing what a dull filter and a body-double can do for middle-aged Angie Dickinson's nipples, ladies and gentlemen?

Grrr.

Tawdry faded-star vehicle for Dickinson, vacation-from-taste for Michael Caine, aspirationally good for hapless Nancy Allen, 'Dressed to Kill' is one of those so-called classics that time and technology has been very unkind to. Lacking almost any tension in its predictability (though there are two worthwhile 'jump' moments'), de Palma's trademark extreme suspense is also negated here thanks to lousy performances from Allen and Dickinson, and Caine just looks bored. Glossy and over-awed, the movie goes from bad to worse with the gift of retrospect - the 'crazy transsexual' motif having been done far better many times both before and after this release.

Lurid and voyeuristic (but not in a good, thought-provoking way a la 'Psycho' or 'Pulp Fiction'), 'Dressed to Kill' isn't interesting or fun to watch anymore, and can only be recommended to the most undemanding of film fans. It could have been great, but sadly, the 'quality' of the performances and the agedness of the premise leave it planted firmly in the bargain bin Has-Beens.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gore, nudity, transsexuals, suspense--Classic DePalma stuff
Review: A sexually frustrated housewife (Dickenson) takes a trip to the local museum, where she is seduced into a romp with a stranger who purposely leaves behind one of his gloves. After awaking in his apartment she is brutally slashed to death in the elevator. Now it's up to the only witness--a high-paid hooker (Allen)--the victim's therapist (Caine, in a duo role) and Dickenson's computer junkie son to discover what this deranged, razor-weilding, wig-adorning, cross-dressing psychopath is truly after.

Sounds corny, but DePalma has an expertise with such stories, as with "Sisters" or "Obsession." The acting quality is debatably well, especially on Dickenson's part, but the thrill-ride of screams and gore is sure to keep the viewer interested untill the last wrenching scene.

Pino Donnagio's score suits the film fantastically, and one wonders why DePalma was his only employer. The museum sequence is a perfect example of how music and camera use can speak for the story.

The films of Brian DePalma have often been critiqued as Hitchcock rip-offs, except for taking the shock elements a leap further. Well, the camerawork is certainly Hitchcockian, as is the scoring--but to say that it's a rip-off, is a lie. With all due respect, it takes a certain taste to appreciate a DePalma film, and many critics do not have it.

The elevator scene--the uncut version you CAN see on the Specian Edition DVD--is pure cinematic genius. And if the techniques used in the Museum chase don't remind you of Vertigo, I don't know what will.

This film is DePalma at the top of his game, and is a MUST see for DePalma and Hitchcock fanatics alike.

Saw it, loved it, had a fit, Bought it,

--GIGI


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