Dressed to Kill

Name: Dressed to Kill
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Released: 1980-06-23
Rating: 83
Cast: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz

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Dressed to Kill

Released Jun 23, 1980

1h 45m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

59 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

When Liz Blake (Nancy Allen), a prostitute, sees a mysterious woman brutally slay homemaker Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), she finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police think Liz is the murderer, the real killer wants to silence the crime's only witness. Only Kate's inventor son, Peter (Keith Gordon), believes Liz. Peter and Liz team up to find the real culprit, who has an unexpected means of hiding her identity and an even more surprising motivation to kill.

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Critics Consensus

With arresting visuals and an engrossingly lurid mystery, Dressed to Kill stylishly encapsulates writer-director Brian De Palma's signature strengths.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

De Palma shows the kind of restless intelligence which suggests that he will want to work in many different forms, and certainly he needs more chances to work on a larger scale... But he doesn’t have to move away from thrillers to prove he’s an artist.

Sep 18, 2023

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Michael Blowen

Boston Globe

Dressed To Kill is a nail-biting, seat-squirming, stylish murder mystery with a brain.

Apr 28, 2018

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Originality has never been a high value in the genre-bound aesthetic of filmmaking, but De Palma cheapens what he steals.

Sep 26, 2007

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Trace Thurman

Horror Queers Podcast

De Palma at the top of his game, with some masterfully edited and scored sequences that still hold up by modern standards.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 11, 2023

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Joe Lipsett

Horror Queers Podcast

Exquisitely directed by DePalma and bearing the key signifiers of a prototypical Erotic Thriller, Dressed to Kill does contribute to the problematic depiction of trans women as killers, though it's not as influential as Psycho or The Silence of The Lambs

Rated: 4/5

Sep 6, 2023

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... few have married the mechanics of suspense with such cinematic grace as De Palma, whose silky images and deliriously choreographed moving camera takes are both beautiful and unnerving, and not just in matters of tension and surprise

Apr 8, 2023

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Los G

There's homage (to Hitchcock) and then there's plagiarism. This tries to be more erotic than Hitchcock (and fails: showing naked bodies isn't the same thing), "pays tribute" to Psycho by stealing scenes and subplots and tries to capture the mystery of Vertigo, without coming close. Ultimately, the story descends into farce and quite what film Nancy Allen was in I really wonder. National Lampoon's Hitchcock for idiots perhaps?

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/08/24

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Gwen W

"It was the 80s" is not an excuse.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/02/24

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Jelisije J

A well acted and well directed film. However certain creative decisions left me unsatisfied with its disjointed third act.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/24/24

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Jonathan O

Is Psycho meets The Bird with Crystal Plumage in a sleazy giallo of the 80's and Brain De Palma who shocked audiences with Carrie did really gorgeous with directing the editing and the camera works and he really understands how to make a great giallo horror cinema and also Brain really knows how to build up the suspense since Hitchcock. And really beautiful haunting score by the great composer Pino Donaggico.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/12/24

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Munyaradzi M

Dressed to Kill is quite an interesting suspenseful horror movie. Made by the legendary director who gave the world "Scarface" and "Carrie" (Brian De Palma) gives us a movie about a killer who is on the loose after killing a rather troublesome mother. While I think the film is good in certain parts, I would say the plot of the killer ends on a rather predictable note; it is pretty obvious who was the killer and the ending sequence is honestly unnecessary. If you are a fan of films like Manhunter this may be for you, but do not expect it to be a masterpiece, it is fairly decent at best.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/06/24

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Mark M

This film is entertaining. Worth a Watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/29/24

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Brian De Palma

Director

Michael Caine

Doctor Robert Elliott

Angie Dickinson

Kate Miller

Nancy Allen

Liz Blake

Keith Gordon

Peter Miller

Dennis Franz

Detective Marino

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Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Museum Encounter