DRESSED TO KILL (1980, Blu-ray released September 6, 2011 – MSRP $24.99)

MOVIE:
VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:
BLU-RAY:

Brian De Palma‘s twisty noir Dressed to Kill is the furthest thing from a perfect film. But what it lacks in solid story it makes up for in style and technical prowess. The new MGM/Fox Blu-ray edition of the film highlights it’s strengths with a strong presentation and decent collection of special features.

“Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson, “Police Woman”) is a sexually-repressed housewife who seeks treatment from Dr. Robert Elliott (two-time Academy Award®-winner Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Cider House Rules). While secretly leaving a hotel after a one-night affair, Kate is mysteriously murdered by a tall blonde woman wearing sunglasses. The only witness is a high-priced call girl, Liz (Nancy Allen in a Golden Globe®-nominated performance), who becomes the killer’s next target. With the help of Kate’s grown son, Peter (Keith Gordon, A Midnight Clear), Liz discovers that the murderer is connected to Dr. Elliott, and the pair come face-to-face with a shocking surprise.“

Dressed to Kill is a strange duck. On one hand, it’s a thrill to see a director craft work that so celebrates his medium as De Palma does here. Every shot, every camera movement is electric – a perfectly lit and choreographed ballet of elated cinematography. It’s a wonder to watch. On the other hand, the story doesn’t work as well as it should. De Palma’s structure and pacing are off through most of the picture – more concerned with a brilliantly staged sequence than the effect that chunk of narrative has on the movement of the entire piece. He might be trying to pull off his best Hitchcock here but he lacks the Master’s ability to perfectly balance the medium and the narrative. It’s tough to be critical of a film that’s such a classic, though. Dressed to Kill could be a much better movie but at thirty years old, most fans are pretty comfortable with it’s many idiosyncrasies. I don’t think we’d have it any other way.

Fans will be over the moon with the Blu-ray presentation of Dressed to Kill, as it makes its high-def debut in a detailed, completely film-like transfer. We’re not talking about Criterion-level clean up here, like their pristine, gorgeous edition of De Palma’s Blow Up released earlier in the year. But this colour accurate, very stable transfer sure does hold its own. Blacks are deep, there’s plenty of film grain on display (never too much for me!) and no untoward signs of digital manipulation appear, as far as I could tell. Really nice work from MGM. The original audio tracks have been expanded to a very pleasing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, that’s far more active than you’d expect. I don’t know what state the original stems are in but, as nice as this new surround track is, it would have been even better to have those included. That said, I’m pretty ecstatic about the dynamic, clean and clear track provided.

There are a number of special features included on the new Dressed to Kill Blu, all carried over from the 2001 DVD, and, sadly, all still in standard definition. But let’s not gripe about the small things. The 45-minute ‘The Making of a Thriller‘ doc is great stuff, interviewing most of the principal cast and crew from the film and filled with info and anecdotes. If you check out any extra on the disc, make sure it’s this one! ‘Slashing Dressed to Kill‘ is nearly 10-minutes of discussion on the edits necessary to bring the film to theatres and TV. A comparison of all three versions of the film is also included and runs around 5-minutes. ‘Dressed to Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon‘ is a little 6-minute chat with one of the stars of the film. The disc is rounded out with a photo gallery and the original theatrical trailer.

Special Features:

• “The Making of a Thriller” Full-Length Documentary including interviews with Brian De Palma, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen and Dennis Franz
• “Slashing Dressed to Kill” Featurette
• “Dressed to Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon” Featurette
• “Comparison of the Unrated, R-rated, and Network Versions” Featurette
• Animated Photo Gallery

Related posts

• Dressed to Kill Blu-ray announced and detailed (0)
• Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of September 6 (0)
• Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of November 15 (0)
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 11 (3)
• Top 10 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of June 21 (0)