Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Dressed to Kill





















Dressed to Kill (1980)
a film by Brian DePalma

I guess it is pretty accurate to call this an erotic crime thriller. There is at least two scenes of naked women in a misty shower room, there are horrible crimes, and the story possibly get really entertaining by moments. Sounds good at first glimpse, nevertheless, if there is a real crime in this movie and it is the poor acting and the lack of dramaturgy.

If you can tolerate tacky scenes, stereotyped characters, horrible acting -including Michael Caine in a regrettable role-and lame dialogues you may be able to fine some really good suspense scenes and good action sequences. Scenes like those in the Museum of Modern Art or the thrilling elevator sequence are barely enough to forget the boring characters that appear between electrifying moments. Maybe is worth seeing this movie to discover that it can thrill using poor character development.

There is no question on why the suspense scenes work. There is Alfred Hitchcock all around the place, there is Psycho and there is Dial M for Murder and there are many other references in this movie. Those scenes work as they worked for Hitchcock, there is excitement and some memorable moments on this film, but when I finished watching it I asked myself if going through the whole film was a price too-high to pay as this movie walks on the edge between B movie and a memorable thriller.

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