The Psychiatrist (played by Michael Caine)
has a patient (Angie Dickinson) that's is attacked in an elevator by
a blonde with a razor.
The murder scenes are visual fireworks and the whole film really is
an example of visual style. De Palma was hated on by most critics
then and accused of being a mediocre plagiator of Hitchcock and his
visual style was just bad taste etc. etc. Zzzzzzz snore.
Stuck-up film critics Go FY, you were wrong and the film lovers were
right. Yes, it's true by then when De Palma made his most
inspired crime and thriller movies the film critics considered him a
trash B movie maker.
Luckily newer generations of film critics has a different view on the
unique films De Palma made then, between 1972 - 1984 all of them
filled to the brim of the inspired De Palma style, sometimes with an
innovative and personal homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
De Palma's films between 1972 and 1984
were all truly original thrillers, crime movies and horrors exploding
onto the scene with visual
style where the camera itself is running amuck in exciting unabashedly
prolonged slow motion scenes, split screens and dolly shots.
His gangster Masterpiece would surely be his 1983 "Scarface",
the most influental gangstermovie world wide of all time, and up until
the 1984 "Body Double" De Palma was a great and unique director,
however .... then he went mainstream with The Untouchables
and only made Crap from then on (OK, some say 1992 "Raising Cain"
should be like the old De Palma, but i haven't seen it yet).
Another director that had his own style
was Canadian David Cronenberg, obsessed with
the Body Horror, not with the camera running
amuck like De Palma but with bodily functions running amuck. He was
also one of my big favourites and he also made unique films,
horrors taking place in cold grey bleak looking northern settings, and
he also had an inspired period at appr. the same time as De Palma,
from the 1975 Shivvers up until 1986 or 1988 (depending if you like
Dead Ringers or not, is it too arty and pretentious perhaps ?)
Dressed to
Kill Story: Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) has sex in
the intro of the film, her body double masturbates in the shower and
fantasizes about having good sex, which her husband doesn't provide
her. She meanders about in an Art Museum and she picks up
a man for sex. She's frustrated and psychologically unbalanced and she
visits a psychiatrist, Robert Elliott (Michael Caine), and this
leads to the famous Elevator scene where
she after a visit to the doctor is slain by a killer with a razor.
The prostitute Liz Blake (Nancy Allen) was a witness at the murder scene
and she teams up with the victim's son Peter (Keith Gordon).
This great Crime Thriller is a bit trashy
(and sometimes funny) but also very stylish and with the long scene
at the Museum, it's very
Hitckcockian (with Vertigo and Psycho vibes, and with the female star
Angie Dickinson being killed off after 34 minutes). Pino
Donaggio provides the soundtrack.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents the
film in widescreen 2.35:1 with english audio DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 with
english subtitles
and the 4K UHD region all on disc 1. Disc 2 bluray region A (played
all though) with EXTRAS:
Audio commentary by author and film critic
Maitland McDonagh, Strictly Business: Interview with actress Nancy Allen
(17 minutes,
2022 she was Mrs. De Palma at the time and she looks great), Killer
Frames: Interview with producer Fred C. Caruso (8 minutes, 2022),
An Imitation of Life: Interview with actor Keith Gordon (14 minutes,
2022), Interview with producer George Litto (18 minutes), Interview
with actress Angie Dickinson (30 minutes, 2012), Interview with Nancy
Allen (23 minutes, 2012), Interview with Keith Gordon (30
minutes, 2012), The Making of Dressed to Kill: 2001 Documentary (44
minutes), Slashing DTK: 2001 featurette (10 minutes),
Unrated, R-rated and TV rated comparison 2001 featurette (5 minutes),
An appreciation by Keith Gordon 2001 featurette (6 minutes),
1980 Archival audio interview with actor Michael Caine, Archival audio
interview with Angie Dickinson and with Nancy Allen,
Trailers, Teasers, Radio and TV spots
.........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
The Old US MGM DVD edition
Anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1, english audio 5.1 with The Making of a
Thriller: Interviews with Brian De Palma, Angie Dickinson, Nancy
Allen, Dennis Franz et al. (43 minutes), an Unrated version option with
razor gore and a muff shot, Three featurettes: A film comparison
between the Uncut, the R rated and the Network version, Slashing Dressed
to Kill: about the censor cuts, an appreciation by Keith
Gordon, original trailer, picture gallery and an info sheet
