Dressed to Kill [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

In this stylish, violent thriller,an unhappy wife, Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), meets a handsome man in a museum and goes to his apartment for a quick sexual encounter. As she leaves, she is brutally murdered. Kate's son, Peter (Keith Gordon) sets out to solve the murder aided by the call-girl Liz (Nancy Allen), who discovered his mother's body and got a glimpse of the murderer, a blond woman. Peter begins watching the office of Kate's psychiatrist, Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine), setting up a camera to record the comings and goings of his patients. When the suspect finally appears, Liz makes an appointment with Elliott in order to get a look at his appointment book. In Dressed to Kill director Brian De Palma deftly incorporates all the tricks and plot devices he learned from observing the masters of the genre, Alfred Hitchcock, Mario Bava and Dario Argento to great effect. The scene where Kate meets her lover in the museum is reminiscent of Vertigo. The murder of Kate in the elevator frightening, bloody and chillingly effective, is similar in tone to the shower scene in Hitchcock'sPsycho. Brian De Palma directs with great visual panache, and gets great performances from his cast, particularly Michael Caine who gives his usual fine performance in a surprising and difficult role. Dressed to Kill is a violent, gory, memorable thriller with many surprises and exciting plot twists.