If you trace the history of the Horror/Thriller, the films of Alfred Hitchcock inspired the 60s German crime films which evolved into the 70s Italian sex thrillers. Brian De Palma then brought it back to the states with this psychosexual visual tour de force. A master with the camera who could build entire sequences with music and expressions instead of dialogue, De Palma was a great composer and his film is a series of breathtaking concertos. Of all his great works, Dressed to Kill was his masterpiece. It taught me the importance of framing, of suspense. It was Hitchcock without restraint. The film that taught me the importance of the widescreen image. After already seeing Dressed to Kill a lot I finally got a letterboxed laserdisc and the missing image information added moments of suspense and humor I hadn’t seen before.
The main reason for praising Dressed to Kill is the museum sequence, and not just the part in the museum but outside the museum – where the camera glides right past the killer – into the apartment and to the elevator. (Again in a moment of sheer directorial brilliance, DePalma places the mysterious killer in the frame, right behind a door window and for a good long time. By the time we become aware, the camera edits away.) All of this builds excruciatingly to the films big murder set piece, which I put above the shower scene in Psycho in terms of editing and shot composition. It’s unbelievable. I did an tribute to it in my college photography class. It made me want to be a director.
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