SISTERS (1973) Movie Review

Sisters (1973) d. Brian De Palma (USA) (93 min)

 

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Following a stint together on a game show called Peeping Toms, aspiring model/actress Danielle (Margot Kidder) and the handsome and chivalrous Philip (Lisle Wilson) strike up a romance and end up back at her apartment. Across the alley, reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) witnesses a brutal murder through Danielle’s window, but when she arrives with the cops in tow, the body is gone and there is no trace of the crime. Undeterred, Grace hires a private detective (Charles Durning) to help her solve the mystery, which leads her down a twisty, tangled path that may cost her life, her mind, or both.

DRESSED TO KILL (1980) Blu-ray review

Dressed to Kill (1980) d. Brian De Palma (105 min)

Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) is frustrated in her marriage, but as she is devoted to her son Peter (Keith Gordon), she is reluctant to consider divorce and instead seeks solace on the comfortable couch of her understanding high-end psychiatrist Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine). After an unexpected midday tryst concludes in tragic fashion, Kate’s world unexpectedly collides with that of Park Avenue call girl Liz (Nancy Allen), no-nonsense police detective Marino (Dennis Franz), and a dangerous, trenchcoat-wearing homicidal killer armed with a straight razor.

THE FURY (1978) movie review

The Fury (1978) d. Brian De Palma (USA) (118 min)

Though on the surface, De Palma could be accused of returning to the telekinetic well a little soon following his smash hit Carrie, John Farris’ adaptation of his own novel expands the tapestry far beyond the small-town concerns of misfit teenagers and into full-blown international government conspiracies and training grounds for potential assassins. (If that device sounds similar to Scanners, it is... and it preceded Cronenberg’s film by three years.)

OBSESSION (1976) Blu-ray review

Obsession (1976) d. Brian De Palma (USA) (98 min)

A 10th wedding anniversary celebration in New Orleans in 1959 ends tragically when Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson, Brainstorm) discovers that his wife Elizabeth (Geneviève Bujold, Dead Ringers) and 9-year-old daughter have been kidnapped. When an attempt to thwart the captors goes awry, Courtland's wife and daughter are never recovered. 16 years later, while vacationing in Florence (where Michael first met Elizabeth), Courtland falls in love with a young woman, Sandra (also Bujold), an exact, if younger, double of his dead wife. On the eve of their wedding, Sandra disappears, with only a ransom note left behind ... a duplicate of the one found several years earlier.

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974)

In conjunction with Cinema SuperCollider's upcoming podcast, we take a break from our usual programming to showcase Anna McKibben's essay, which originally appeared in the Rondo Award-winning compendium, HIDDEN HORROR. Hope you enjoy!

“It's all here. Read it carefully then sign at the bottom in blood. Messy, I know, but it's the only way to bind. Tradition.”

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) movie review

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) d. De Palma, Brian (USA)

Two years before he emerged as a superstar filmmaker with Carrie, De Palma concocted this comedy/horror re-working of Phantom of the Opera. When enigmatic studio magnate Swan (Paul Williams, in a stroke of inspired casting) steals aspiring composer William Finley’s rock opera version of Faust, the spurned tunesmith swears vengeance. As he attempts to sabotage the Death Records offices, Finley’s face and vocal cords are destroyed in a horrific record pressing accident, transforming him into a masked freak haunting Swan’s new rock opera house, the Paradise.