Body Double (1984)

Sam Bouchard: Don't be so melodramatic. 

"You Can't Believe Everything You See"

Body Double is Brian De Palma at his core. This is a film that driven by erotica and violence, and De Palma balances the two of the really well, while paying homage(or ripping off, however you want to look at it) to Hitchcock's Vertigo and Rear Window. The film is odd for sure. De Palma isn't known for making non-odd films, but this one is even weirder than his norm. 

I liked it for sure. Actually, I loved it for the first hour or so. I loved the scene where Jake follows the woman for like 15 minutes straight on screen. There's little dialogue, but it works perfectly because of genuine suspense being built by watching Jake follow a woman who's being followed by another man. The movie falls apart in its last third, but not enough to change how much I liked the movie, especially the first hour. 

Jake is a struggling actor who was just fired from his acting job as a vampire because he is claustrophobic and can't handle the coffin scene. He also just broke up with his girlfriend and doesn't have a place to live. A friend of his sets him up with a nice place and shows him a woman that does a little naked dance in the window every night. Like any guy, Jake watches her every night. Through watching her, he notices another guy watching her, and sees him follow her one day. The guy steals her purse, but Jake gets it back for her. Later that night, Jake views the same guy breaking into her house. He tries to save her, but is too late. Yeah, that's just the set up.

If you are a De Palma fan, you should get a lot of satisfaction out of watching this one. If you aren't a De Palma fan, this movie is why you hate him. It definitely is not anywhere near his best, but there is something that is incredibly interesting about it. I could never recommend this to anyone though, because most people would probably be turned off to it. And I would completely understand why.