[8]

Brian DePalma (Carrie, Sisters) serves up a sexually charged Hitchcockian thriller about a female slasher hunting a prostitute who witnessed her last murder. Michael Caine stars as the shrink who tries to help the call girl, who’s played by Nancy Allen (Mrs DePalma at the time). But it’s Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo) who delivers the film’s most memorable performance as a sexually frustrated housewife who nervously initiates a one-night stand. Her role functions like Janet Leigh’s in Psycho, and the Hitchcock comparisons don’t end there.

Dressed to Kill is a conceptual piece executed brilliantly, though at times it’s hard to say who the main protagonist is. I’m also not sure we need the last ten minutes of the film, which plays like an unnecessary attempt at a double-climax. But more often than not, the film brings out the best in DePalma, whose inventive staging and camera movement, like Hitch’s, are excellent fodder for film students everywhere. Ralf Bode’s gauzy cinematography and Pino Donaggio’s melodramatic scoring further push the film to suitably operatic proportions.

With Keith Gordon (Christine) as Dickinson’s nerdy son who launches his own investigation into her death, and Dennis Franz as a detective determined to lock up Allen for the murder.