Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Filmways Pictures, Inc.

Video: MGM

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:45:00.961

Disc Size: 38,191,459,463 bytes

Feature Size: 33,342,259,200 bytes

Video Bitrate: 36.01 Mbps

Chapters: 16

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: September 6th, 2011

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3957 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3957 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit / DN -4dB)
DUB: Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), French, Spanish, none

 

Extras:

• The Making of Dressed to Kill Documentary Including Interviews with Brian De Palma, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Dennis Franz and More! (43:51 in 480i)
• Unrated, R-Rated and TV-Rated Comparison Featurette (5:14 in 480i)
• Slashing Dressed to Kill Featurette (9:50 in 480i)
• An Appreciation by Keith Gordon Featurette (6:06 in 480i)
• Animated Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer (2:10 in 1080P)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Writer-director Brian De Palma “maintains a fever pitch from start to finish” (Leonard Maltin) with this “steamily libidinous and extremely bloody thriller” (Newsweek)! Starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen (in a Golden Globe®-nominated performance), this taut psycho-sexual chiller is a razor-sharp tale of passion, madness and murder that’s as “scary as the devil [with] suspense to spare” (Playboy)!

Fashionable Manhattan therapist Dr. Robert Elliott (Caine) faces the most terrifying moment of his life, when a psychotic killer begins attacking the women (Dickinson and Allen) in his life— with a straight razor stolen from his office. Desperate to find the murderer before anyone else is hurt, Elliott is soon drawn into a dark and disturbing world of chilling desires. And as the doctor edges closer to the terrible truth, he finds himself lost in a provocative and deadly maze of obsession, deviance and deceit— where the most harmless erotic fantasies…can become the most deadly sexual nightmares!

 

 

The Film:

Because fetishizing requires the dislocation and amplification of objects from their surroundings, a quick rundown of the formal dildos and vibrating bullets on De Palma's kink counter: creamy, coordinated couture, complete with sonically active jewelry and heels; razor fixation (reminiscent of Argento, though predating the astonishing moment when blaze meets bulb in Tenebre); manhole steam illuminated by porn shops' traveling marquee lights; the sighs of a masturbating woman merging with the prurient bloom of Pino Donaggio's best score (even if De Palma probably wanted something closer to his former collaborator Bernard Herrmann's score from Taxi Driver); the choreography of the Phil Donohue split-screen, with exactingly timed parallel turns; "What's the going rate on running red lights?"; a jerry-rigged time-lapse camera hidden in a shoebox; the way the trannie psycho's name Bobbi is spelled; the fact that it's the only one of De Palma's "red period" films whose palate is overwhelmingly blue.

Excerpt from Eric Henderson at Slant Magazine located HERE

The movie owes a great deal to Hitchcock, perhaps too much for one to be able to judge it entirely on its own merits. It's possible that if one is a Hitchcock student, with a special knowledge of Psycho and Vertigo, one will resent all of the so-called quotes and references that Mr. De Palma includes in Dressed to Kill. But that, I think, is to underrate what the writer-director has pulled off in this case, which is not an imitation but a film made by someone who has studied the master and learned, in addition to style, something far more important, that is, a consistent point of view. Among other things, the De Palma camera appears to have an intelligence of its own.

Excerpt from Vincent Canby's review at The NY Times located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

I guess we can assume that Dressed to Kill can only look so good in digital. The previous DVDs had the same soft-focus look as this new MGM Blu-ray. The 80's had some pretty unremarkable film stocks but the director's early films frequently seems to look this way. De Palma's Body Double had the same visual style (ditto for Obsession and Sisters - maybe Blow Out the exception?) - frequently looking kind of faded and smokey. Noise still exists although to a lesser degree. The image quality is fairly thick and grainy. It never achieves a glossy, pristine appearance and this is probably very accurate to the theatrical. I thought it was consistent and looked fine although no depth or overly vibrant colors exist - except possibly the blood streaks and splatters.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Audio gets a bold DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3957 kbps. It sounds strong and this would be highly notable in Pino Donaggio's score - often reminiscent of Herrmann. Like many thing De Palma - it is somewhat over the top and it runs in ebbs and flows beside the building tensions. There are some subtleties in the separation and depth is always there when called upon. There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

Extras :

Supplements appear to duplicate the previous SE DVD from a decade ago. It has the substantial "The Making of Dressed to Kill" which includes interviews with De Palma, Dickinson, Allen, the producer George Litto, and more you mention their most notable memories of the production. There are the two separate featurettes that deal with the specific censorship aspects of the three versions (unrated, R, and Network TV cut) and the MPAA rating and blown-out media hype it obtained. Keith Gordon's 6-minute appreciation is till here, and an animated gallery and theatrical trailer - now in HD.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Dressed to Kill still works in its own way. More an homage to the Master than direct theft - although an easy case could be made for the latter. The sexuality is surprising even after 30 years. The soft-focus look isn't the biggest beneficiary to the 1080P transfer but removing some of the noise and adding grain is a definite bonus via Blu-ray. I doubt we're going to see it looking any better and this title still has appeal - especially at the offered price. 

Gary Tooze

September 1st, 2011