Dressed to Kill
Director: Brian De Palma
Year Released: 1980
Rating: 2.5
De Palma cribs from Hitchcock (and makes sure you know that's what he's doing; it's way beyond simple homage), turns first half-hour into softcore porn, then rest into tantalizing (though mindless) exercise in technique. Should I ever find myself teaching a class in film composition and generating tension, I would use this, but as an example of storytelling or dialogue or acting (Nancy Allen is the most egregious offender – second to Angie Dickinson - with her monotone line readings), it's everything you should not do in your film. Requires you to turn off all intellectual capacity (it makes absolutely no sense), and I doubt whether or not De Palma bought the central twist or the 'legitimate' ending, tacking on a 'fake' ending to just show off some more.
