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| Dressed to Kill | 
| Category: Movie
Buy New: $7.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 25654
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 105 minutes
ASIN: B000IZ2YH4
Theatrical Release Date: July 24, 1980
Release Date: November 20, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Dressed to Thrill October 24, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill is, more often than not, noticed for the director's frequent (and sometimes over the top) homages to Hitchcock cinema. Despite this however, Dressed to Kill is still a vibrant and vivid thriller that finds De Palma at his best; orchestrating a superb sense of dread, suspense, and some striking eroticism, even if it all begins to wear thin by the time the film reaches it's climax. The film begins with an unhappily married woman (Angie Dickinson) telling her shrink (Michael Caine) about her unhappiness, and ends up having a fling with a man she chases around in a museum. After an afternoon of fun, she is brutally murdered by a transgender wannabe, with a high class hooker (Nancy Allen) the only witness. Also featuring Christine's Keith Gordon as Dickinson's whiz kid teenage son and Dennis Franz as a sleazy cop, De Palma manages to get the most out of his cast, except Caine seems strangely wooden here. However, with De Palma's techniques and some dynamite twists in the story, Dressed to Kill is still an impressive, Hitchcockian homage, and it still manages to leave you on the edge of your seat 25 years later.
 Despite "Psycho" feel, a rare film, nonetheless! October 20, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a fan of "underground" and "old school" horror (stalker/slasher films, in particular), I found Dressed To Kill to be one-of-a-kind! Yes, it does "borrow heavily from, among other films, the original Psycho," but, I, still, enjoyed it, nonetheless! In my opinion, there's "something 'charismatic' about cross-dressers and/or transsexuals and horror."
A classic September 4, 2005
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
When a director can have the actors and cameras tell a story over about 20 minutes without a word... you have a classic.
Such is the scene that starts in the museum with Angie Dickinson being cruised, then cruising, then being picked up and taken away. She wakens in the morning, finds out a secret, leaves and is then killed horribly. It is rare that you will see all that take place and not a word is spoken by any of the principal actors.
The movie shifts gears after that and the cat is after the mouse.
Technology that was available at the time is brought into use. DePalma's use of split screens and camera angels keeps the movie going along. Nancy Allen plays a role she plays well... a hooker. But one of the principal actors here.
I would say that this is DePalma's second best movie. His best is without a doubt 'Body Double'.
Sure, they're both a lot like hitchcock. But that's okay. I liked hitchcock and I'm glad to see somebody making films so close to his you sometimes cannot tell the difference.
Speaking of body double, I understand that the making of that film was as a result of the criticism that DePalma and Dickinson recieved for the use of a body double in this movie. Interesting.
A classic of the suspense in the eighties! August 23, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If we drew a straight line between Hitchcock and his most remarkable followers two names: Claude Chabrol in France and Brian de Palma and weaving finer we should agree that Dressed is the best and most mature film of De Palma.
Evidently there are more than happy coincidence respect top previous Hitchcock entries. First at all Angie Dickinson has committed an unforgettable sin, she has infringed adultery and now like Leigh in Psycho she will have the weight of the guilt with her early death, curiously by the same sin.
The first part of the film concludes with her murderer, brilliantly made with a superb slow motion and astonishing handle camera.
The psychopath is a twist of Norman Bates. Two crossed and antagonist personalities living in the same body. Opposite sides of the same coin facing one each other and trying to maintain a fragile equilibrium, as we will see.
In the other hand we have a Peeping Tom but smartly embodied by a nerd: a brilliant electronic student who will become eventually in the target of funny double jokes.
But the main character is Nancy Allen that made an accurate role ( the best in her career) as charismatic and sympathetic pros who will be the hook and future victim of her dangerous game in her particular search of the assassin.
The script is smart and in despite of the fact more than twenty have elapsed, the movie maintains its febrile tension.
An undeniable triumph of de Palma, without forgetting obviously the fantastic performance of Michael Caine who lived his Golden Decade in the eighties: Educating Rita, Hanna and her sisters,
Mona Lisa and this one. He had to win at least another additional Award with Mona Lisa, too.
Watch it over and over and you will always find traces of good cinema. That' s a good signal and the best evidence we are in front of one of the four best suspense movies of the eighties.
3.5 STARS: A very good Hitchcockian styled thriller/hybrid horror flick. August 4, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" is a very good suspense thriller/horror movie. The similarities between "Dressed to Kill" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" are clear and very well defined. "Dressed to Kill" starts out with a sexually unsatisfied middle-aged woman who sees a psychiatrist played by Michael Caine. The woman struggles with her sexual worth and displays a reckless attitude in a chance encounter with some stranger at a museum.
De Palma, like Hitchcock, uses classic cinematic misdirection to fool the audience into perhaps thinking that this middle-aged woman is the main character and her emotional problems are central to the movie's plot. So, what De Palma sets up to be as a drama or maybe even a love story turns into something much darker and much more horrific. Out of the blue comes a brutal murder that shocks the audience and changes the focus and expectations of the audience into what could have been a drama focused on a middle aged woman dealing with problems regarding her sexuality to a suspense thriller which is styled like a hybrid thriller/horror movie. The result is a very effective movie which truly shocks the conscience of the audience and creates a terrific little mystery for the viewer to put together.
The question in this movie becomes who is the murderer and what was the motive...De Palma hypnotizes the audience into a psychological thriller delving into the scary and dark world of the unconscious mind, classic psychosis and multiple personality disorder. Indeed, De Palma borrows heavily from Hitchcock with overtones of "Psycho" and other Hitchcock films to create an interesting movie that is able to stand on its own merits despite strong reliance on Hitchcockian techniques and style. Still, "Dressed to Kill" has that dream-like De Palma signature to it which is classic De Palma. The movie moves along with a murder mystery and De Palma provides the audience with another horrifying surprise or two to make "Dressed to Kill" into a clearly enjoyable horror movie viewing experience.
While not a classic nor a pure horror movie, "Dressed to Kill" is a must own hybrid horror/thriller or suspense movie that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Hitchcockian styled suspense thrillers with an element of horror to it...you won't be disappointed. "Dressed to Kill" is almost a FOUR STAR movie in my opinion, but if you have read any of my reviews, you will know that 3.5 STARS is an excellent grade coming from this reviewer.
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