Eerily transcendent, Dressed to Kill is a layered machine of on-target character work and the sort of tension that only the best of the best filmmakers can ratchet.
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 37
Fresh: 31
Rotten:6
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: In this film that combines Hitchcock's slick premises with modern-day gore, a lonely wife follows her shrink's advice and seeks comfort in a stranger. After a seductive, dangerous encounter, the wife meets a homicidal maniac. The... In this film that combines Hitchcock's slick premises with modern-day gore, a lonely wife follows her shrink's advice and seeks comfort in a stranger. After a seductive, dangerous encounter, the wife meets a homicidal maniac. The prostitute who discovers the body and the victim's son must track the killer, a tall blonde "woman" with a trenchcoat and a razorblade. [More]
Starring: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon
Starring: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Brian De Palma
Get This Movie
Release:
Jan 31, 2006
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Mono - English, French
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
- Behind the Scenes - Making-Of
- Interviews - Brian DePalma - Director; Angie Dickenson, Dennis Franz, Nancy Allen - Stars
- Featurette - 1. SLASHING DRESSED TO KILL
- 2. DRESSED TO KILL: AN APPRECIATION BY KEITH GORDON
- 3. THE X, R, G COMPARISON
- Trailers - Original Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
- Stills/Photos - Animated Photo Gallery
Reviews for Dressed to Kill
This film should be celebrated as one of those purely cinematic experiences, which these days are all too few and far between.
Originality has never been a high value in the genre-bound aesthetic of filmmaking, but De Palma cheapens what he steals.
All dressed up with no script to go, but a feverish nerve jangler nonetheless.
Despite some major structural weaknesses, the cannily manipulated combination of mystery, gore and kinky sex adds up to a slick commercial package.
Inflates paperback pulp psychology into something like a plot, all the better to demonstrate that filmmaking is an inherently visual storytelling.
Ultimately, the film amounts to little more than a consummate study of suspense technique, all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Brian De Palma is at his Hitchcock-imitating best in this lurid psycho thriller that's an absolute treat from start to finish.
DePalma is not yet an artist of Hitchcock's stature, but he does earn the right to a comparison.
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by: EvilShoe 12/9/02
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