O yes ...was just telling how extremely BAD a director De Palma is ... i mean i have seen at least a couple of notable movie he made ... Carrie ... (the only work of Stephen King made to film i have really liked so far btw ...) or Scarface ...i do admit i haven't seen all of his works really although have seen enough not to be very curious in seeing the rest ... so pardon my harshness if i'm going a little bit too fast ...but this one's a really weak movie imo! only a few slightly noteworthy moments that don't last long enough to make you feel good really while some well known actors offer very bad acting ... and that tells me only one thing: the director didn't make it!the story is cheesy as well ... too obvious i'd say ... and considering at the time of making this failure of a movie the director's been into making movies for two decades already yet failing at it would make me feel a little bit surprised in fact, especially when he's already made a good one not so long before this and another very good one only three years later ...i guess De Palma's kind of overly obsessed with sex and violence himself or he wouldn't be making movies like this that actually fail in delivering both items in a decent manner! he did so even more badly in another one of his movies but can't remember its name now ... it was more like a porn movie actually but dressed over with an apparently serious story ... another bad work of his imo ...please don't get me wrong though! most of his movies i have seen so far are VERY WELL MADE indeed from the viewpoint of 'art direction' so to say ... but even in the best of them there are often some really bad 'silly mistakes' here and there that makes one think what's going on really ...

What do you get when you combine Alfred Hitchcock and a thriller suspense story from the 1980's? Well, you would get 1980's thriller Dressed to Kill. From the beginning, you can tell that director Brian De Palma was trying to emulate Alfred Hitchcock's films of old. Many young filmmakers at the time tried to make films with a Hitchcock influence, but many of them failed. However, Dressed to Kill mostly succeeded in creating a "Hitchcock" film. According to famed critic Roger Ebert, "He (De Palma) places his emphasis on the same things that obsessed Hitchcock: precise camera movements, meticulously selected visual movements, characters seen as types rather than personalities, and violence as a sudden interruption of the most mundane situations." While the movie may not be peak Hitchcock, we get have an entertaining thriller that is violent, engaging, and surprisingly effective.My first thought of the movie was that it is a strangely erotic movie. In all honesty, it is really a softcore porn movie, at least that is what it felt like to me. It is a movie that pushes sex up to the top and then some. It does star some respectable Hollywood actors and a well-loved director, so at least the names give the movie legitimacy. Let me tell you why I believed this film was a porno at first. Just listen to the plot. There is this middle-aged woman named Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) who is frustrated with her sexual life. She goes to a therapist named Dr. Robert Elliot (Michael Caine) to help her through her crisis. After a session with the therapist, she randomly meets this guy at a museum and they have sex. After she finds out he has a STD, she leaves hastily. The problem is that she forgets her wedding ring. As she goes back to retrieve her ring, she is brutally murdered with a razor. Now there are all sorts of problems as everyone tries to track down the killer.I thought the performances were solid ones. The big name here is Michael Caine. He does wonderful in all his films, and there is no difference here. His character is very charismatic, but there is a hint of darkness hidden behind the charisma, and that interested me because I am used to Michael Caine playing a beloved, helpful good guy. Angie Dickinson gave a solid performance as the sexually-deprived housewife. I am still on the fence about Nancy Allen's performance. She played a high-class prostitute named Liz Blake and was named the only suspect for the murder. Her performance went over-the-top at times, a little more than I was comfortable with. It's funny because she was nominated both for a Golden Globe and a Razzie for her performance.One important thing to note about the movie is that it is not pushed forward narratively. De Palma and writer George Litto made this film more of a stylistic one. Also, certain themes we look at today were looked at differently thirty-seven years ago. The movie has a strange way in using transsexuality and schizophrenia to build the case for the homicidal maniac seen killing people in the movie. There are plot issues at hand, but plot is not the strongest suit of the film. It is all about the shocker value that is effectively delivered.Dressed to Kill is an interesting movie to say the least. It's an erotic thriller that follows the footsteps of earlier Hitchcock movies. But one thing to note is that it is not a Hitchcock film, but De Palma comes very close in recreating one. The film is suspenseful, thrilling, and there are what seems to be an indefinite amount of twists and turns. If anything, you get to see Michael Caine deliver a performance outside of his wheelhouse.My Grade: B

Things have changed, of course, and it is now frowned upon to be the least critical of trans anything and here the blending of gender bending with the suggestion that it equates with paranoid schizophrenia is considered completely out of order. Cinematically it is another matter and here De Palma is gloriously updating ideas raised in Hitchcock's original film, even in how he deals with the female lead. Apart then from the possibly dubious set-up and that rather over extended dream sequence (although it made me smile, as intended, I'm sure) this is a fantastically effective thriller more or less in the Italian gialli mould. One senses the director's glee as he proceeds from one amazing sequence to another. Thrilling, sexy, amusing and tense, this is an extraordinary achievement.

Clearly one of the most classic 1980 films is that of Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" it's an interesting and well acted and simply shot suspense thriller that teases with drama and murder all while blending sex and skin in so well it's really an eye candy treat! The pace of the film is fast and fever pitch from start to finish keeping you the viewer on edge and guessing only to be thrown for a twist and a shock by the end of the picture.Set in New York city in Manhattan the story begins with Kate Miller(the bold and near perfect Angie Dickinson)as a middle age housewife who has problems she's sexually frustrated as her husband can't get it right in bed and her only son is a computer and book nerd named Peter(Keith Gordon)who wants to explore more. So one afternoon before lunch after Kate has a session with her psychiatrist Dr. Elliott(the in top form Michael Caine)she decides to end the afternoon at the city art museum only does she later find out that it will end for good for her! As it's after meeting a mystery type looking guy she follows him to his taxi then to the apartment for a one night stand type of affair, then slowly but surely the film starts to take twist and turns after Kate's life ends some of the characters are connected others are hard to get a read on as no one is who they seem.Now enter Liz Blake(the sexy Nancy Allen)who's a high priced call girl escort type who's at the apartment complex and is a witness to the murder of Kate as she lay in blood on the elevator soon one by one or little by little the pieces start to come together or do they this picture is like a jigsaw puzzle that throws you for a loop. Really it's a thrilling interest as the mystery blonde woman is not really what it seems to be! Plus the movie and film is blended and spiced up nice with plenty of sex and skin and most of it is carried by the sexy performance of Nancy Allen as she rocks it up as call girl Liz as the scene where she strips down to her black bra and panties is some great eye candy! Overall "Dressed to Kill" is one fun sexual thrill tease of suspense and twist a maze of complex obsession, deceit and emotional bloody drama of skin and murder as it's really like an identity nightmare for everyone involved. Really this is one memorable classic to see and it's enjoyable to watch many times over.