Dressed To Kill (1980)

This delightfully sleazy thriller from Brian De Palma borrows heavily (as expected) from Hitchcock, but is too well-crafted and irresistible to be dismissed. De Palma moves the camera with virtuoso instinct and grace, creating some dynamite set pieces (the museum scene, the subway scene, the psychiatric center, etc.). He employs dazzling long takes and tracking shots, using the camera/editing to reveal everything while using little dialogue.

Dressed to Kill is a dark, nightmarish film in which women are preyed upon and mistreated by nearly all males – schizophrenic psychologists, crass cops, violent hoodlums, neglectful husbands, and one-night-stands with V.D. Ultimately, it’s a derisive send-up of the male gaze and the cool, clinical sexual aggression imbued in Hitchcock’s work. The most prominent Hitchcock influences include Psycho (transgender characters, a shocking murder, a stabbing fetishism, showers, Oedipal undertones) and Rear Window (rampant voyeurism). Held back only by weak performances from just about everyone besides Michael Caine (Nancy Allen is particularly underwhelming).