Dressed to Kill (1980)

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Dressed to Kill is a 1980 erotic thriller film. It is written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, and Angie Dickinson. Housewife Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) is murdered. The only witness is call girl Liz Blake (Nancy Allen). The killer begins stalking her, while she attempts to evade the killer and solve the crime herself. She teams up with the victim’s teenage son Peter (Keith Gordon), who wants revenge. Nancy Allen and Michael Caine provide solid performances. Allen, in particular shines as call girl Liz. She provides some weight to the character of a woman who witnesses a murder, and over the course of the film, finds herself both a target and a suspect. For the most part, the film is well directed. This comes as no surprise because Brian De Palma is a master director. However, I did feel that there were certain points where he would just let a scene play out a little bit too long. It doesn’t feel relevant by the time the scene ends. It feels more like begging for the audience to notice his directing instead of letting the story play out. I had mixed feelings about the end of the film. On one hand, De Palma really does a good job building up tension. On the other hand, it falls into one of the ultimate horror clichés of all time. Something I found interesting about the film was the (possibly unintended) similarities to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. However, they aren’t bad, as they work well enough within the context of the movie’s plot. Overall, Dressed to Kill has its rough spots that easily could have been smoothed out better. But, the performances by Michael Caine and Nancy Allen, and the film’s mystery aspect make this movie a fine one-and-done.

6 / 10