Dressed to Kill (1980)

Film details

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Year1980
CountryUSA
TypeMovie
Runtime105m
CastMichael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz, David Margulies, Ken Baker, Susanna Clemm, Brandon Maggart, Amalie Collier

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

Ranking history

The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films

EDITIONS IN TOP 1,00011
HIGHEST#1932024
LOWEST#2552017
Top 1,000Outside Top 1,000Missing ranking data

Dashed lines indicate missing ranking data. Select a point to view that year's published list. The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films list was not updated in 2022.

Lists featuring this film 55 lists

Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson's Top 102015Ranked#6
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Cinevistaramascope's Top 100 - '80s Horror!2013Ranked#22
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Darrell Moore's The Best, Worst, And Most Unusual Horror Films1983Unranked—
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Horror Freak News' Matt Molgaard's 10 Greatest Giallo Movies2016Unranked—
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Josh Keown's My Top 50 Slashers of All Time2012Ranked#10
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Murray Leeder's Horror Film - A Critical Introduction2018Unranked—
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Paper Street Cinema's Greg Douglass' Top 50 Best Horror Movies2009Ranked#42
Paul Wells' The Horror Genre - From Beelzebub to Blair Witch (Short Cuts)2000Unranked—
PopOptiq's Ricky da Conceição's Greatest Slasher Films (1970-1990)2012Ranked#9
Rank & File Top 250 HorrorThrillers of All Time2025Ranked#98
Reel.com's Top 100 Scary Movies1999Ranked#33
Retrospace's 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time2009Ranked#53
Saturn Award for Best Horror & Thriller Film (All nominees)2018Unranked—
Sir Plebeian's Top 100 Slashers2013Ranked#35
Slant Magazine's 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time2019Ranked#69
Staci Layne Wilson's Top 102015Unranked—
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The Wandering Image's TOP 100 HORROR MOVIES OF THE 80s2012Ranked#8
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