6/22/2023 0 Comments Victoria johnson dressed to killThe title of that movie was inspired by DRESSED TO KILL, as the then-almost-50-year-old Dickinson’s notoriously steamy shower scene required copious nudity. In April this year, we screened De Palma’s breathtaking 1984 masterpiece BODY DOUBLE here at QUAD. Before long the cut-throat razors are out, the glistening blood is splashing, arcing artistically across our view, and the film is down to business. De Palma stages one of his typical bravura set piece scenes early in the proceedings – you will simply marvel and watch open-mouthed as his camera prowls around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pursuing Dickinson as she attempts to pick up some fleeting male company for the afternoon. Caine was quite the horror regular at around this time, also appearing in THE SWARM, THE ISLAND, and THE HAND between 19. Fresh from her hit TV show ‘Police Woman’, Angie Dickinson returned to the big screen as Kate Miller, a troubled and sexually unsatisfied middle aged New Yorker visiting her psychiatrist Dr. Seen from our nostalgic perspective 35 years on, we can judge it as a glossy, classy, star-studded addition to that surprise tidal wave of slasher flicks, and as a splendid example of Brian De Palma’s unique and impressive visual style and way with a tense thriller. Whatever your thoughts might be regarding psycho films and their perceived influence on real life events, DRESSED TO KILL has survived the onslaught of those early 80s critics, be they typewriter-clacking media professionals or spray-can wielding amateurs. Hot on its heels came Brian De Palma’s DRESSED TO KILL, and the crimson spray hit the screen from within and without once again. Even pointing out that the film was directed by a woman, Barbara Peeters, failed to soften the blow. HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, a Roger Corman production starring Doug McClure, was released in Britain under the title MONSTER and was one of the key targets, as its plot about sea creatures emerging from the depths to rape women in a small coastal town could barely have been worse-timed. Organised American groups such as ‘Women Against Violence Against Women’ or ‘Women Against Pornography’ had staged action at movie theatres, and the British method seemed to combine those homegrown traditions of graffiti and ‘bunking in’, with gangs of aerosol-equipped objectors gaining access to movie auditoriums via the exit doors and spraying red paint across the screens playing films that particularly offended them. One direct line of action taken by protestors here in Britain was to directly link violent activity by males to the product on offer at local cinemas. The late seventies had seen a number of notorious serial-killing cases – Ted Bundy, Henry Lee Lucas, Peter Sutcliffe, Son of Sam among them – and women’s groups were becoming ever more forceful in challenging the powers that be to ensure levels of protection and detection. It was hard to reconcile such anti-censorship beliefs with the wave of protests against media depictions of violent acts, however. As a keen horror fan I was thrilled to find myself in the midst of the stalk-and-slash boom, with the chance to watch insane masked killers carving up a string of helpless victims on an almost weekly basis and when our moral guardians began their own carving-up acts, hacking all of the most bloody crowd-pleasing moments out of these entertainments, I was among those actively campaigning against such censorious outrages. Violence against women was a hot topic – and caused anguish and fence-sitting for right-on, teenage, NME-reading, liberal, self-styled ‘male feminists’ like myself. Women’s rights had been on the political and social agenda for some years, with equality, the pay gap, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, the emergence of a new strength and vibrancy among a younger female generation, all contributing to the shift. Thirty five years ago DRESSED TO KILL caused headlines, for all the wrong reasons. Although you’d never guess it from my get-up this evening – yes, I’m wearing my baggy old DEMONS t-shirt yet again – tonight, we’re DRESSED TO KILL. Welcome once again to Fright Club, and our latest presentation forming part of QUAD’s current Brian De Palma season. Here is a transcript of Darrell Buxton’s introduction from Friday’s Dressed To Kill Screening.
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