Dressed to Kill (1980)

Film details
View on IMDb ↗CastMichael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz, David Margulies, Ken Baker, Susanna Clemm, Brandon Maggart, Amalie Collier
KeywordsPsychological Thriller, Erotic Thriller, Mystery, Giallo, Slasher, New Hollywood
Review
"What really ups the ante in the effectiveness of "Dressed to Kill" are the long, purposefully drawn-out set-pieces. Director Brian De Palma is a wizard of mise en scene, building remarkable levels of suspense in the way that he sets up what is about to happen and then edits the material in an intoxicatingly slow fashion that allows for the viewers to be placed in the characters' shoes, imagining all the while what they might do in a similar situation. A ten-minute museum sequence, free of dialogue, is brilliant, with Kate people-watching while making a list of items to pick up at the grocery store. When a dark, devastatingly good-looking man takes a seat next to her, she flirts with him without uttering a syllable. Their ensuing pursuance of each other through the maze of rooms in the museum is shot by late cinematographer Ralf Bode (2000's "Boys and Girls") with a fluid, dreamlike intrigue and a hint of danger, speaking to the desperation of Kate's character." - Dustin Putman, The Movie Boy