Edwin Pereyra
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 1998
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I was able to obtain the DVD release of this upcoming film a few days early before its actual street date (August 28). Brian De Palma has been accused of borrowing heavily from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. While that may be so, he also has his own signature marks that separate his films from others making some of them recognizable, highly memorable and entertaining. Dressed To Kill is one of them.
The film is about a sexually unsatisfied housewife Kate Miller played by the beautiful Angie Dickenson who talks about her problems to a Manhattan therapist, Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine). An unexpected sexual affair one afternoon turns out deadly. Keith Gordon (Kate’s son), Nancy Allen (a call girl) and Dennis Franz (police detective) round out the rest of the cast as they try and solve a murder mystery.
The disc contains both the unrated and rated versions of the film through seamless branching. The unrated version, is without a doubt, very violent and contains nudity. I saw this film almost twenty years ago but I can’t remember whether that was the unrated version or not. Seeing it again now, the violence remains shocking as I have first seen it. I guess I have not yet been desensitized (which is good) after the slew horror films and other copycats that followed this one, which for the most part, I have managed to avoid. Others may say that this film is exploitive and way over the top. This is definitely not one for the very squeamish.
Yet, when compared with other films in the same genre, Dressed To Kill is a well-crafted, taut, suspenseful and stylized thriller. De Palma is always able to tell a story without a dialogue and by just using his camera. The long tracking shots, superimposed flashbacks, split screens and music all create the mood very fitting for this type of film.
Those who have not seen this film but liked De Palma’s two other thrillers, Carrie and Blow Out should also enjoy this one. (I thought the latter is also one of his better films and incidentally these two other films are also scheduled for DVD release all on the same day as this one). The soundtrack has also been remixed and remains haunting as ever.
~Edwin
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/005780.html#8
The film is about a sexually unsatisfied housewife Kate Miller played by the beautiful Angie Dickenson who talks about her problems to a Manhattan therapist, Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine). An unexpected sexual affair one afternoon turns out deadly. Keith Gordon (Kate’s son), Nancy Allen (a call girl) and Dennis Franz (police detective) round out the rest of the cast as they try and solve a murder mystery.
The disc contains both the unrated and rated versions of the film through seamless branching. The unrated version, is without a doubt, very violent and contains nudity. I saw this film almost twenty years ago but I can’t remember whether that was the unrated version or not. Seeing it again now, the violence remains shocking as I have first seen it. I guess I have not yet been desensitized (which is good) after the slew horror films and other copycats that followed this one, which for the most part, I have managed to avoid. Others may say that this film is exploitive and way over the top. This is definitely not one for the very squeamish.
Yet, when compared with other films in the same genre, Dressed To Kill is a well-crafted, taut, suspenseful and stylized thriller. De Palma is always able to tell a story without a dialogue and by just using his camera. The long tracking shots, superimposed flashbacks, split screens and music all create the mood very fitting for this type of film.
Those who have not seen this film but liked De Palma’s two other thrillers, Carrie and Blow Out should also enjoy this one. (I thought the latter is also one of his better films and incidentally these two other films are also scheduled for DVD release all on the same day as this one). The soundtrack has also been remixed and remains haunting as ever.
~Edwin
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/005780.html#8