If you've seen Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," then you've already seen "Dressed to Kill." Like Hitchcock's masterpiece, "Dressed to Kill" focuses on a mysterious blonde who is suddenly killed by a man dressed as a woman one third of the way into the movie. Like "Psycho," the story shifts gears to center around the investigation into the murder. In a twist ending, the killer is revealed to be a man with a split personality. He appears to be a gentleman, but in reality he is a sexually frustrated psychopath who dresses like a woman in order to resolve his psychosis. Both movies open with a love scene, feature a shower sequence that is key to the plot, and even the crucial murder sequence is almost a remake of the now-infamous murder of Marion Crane from the music down to the direction.
The similarities are so striking they're beyond homage - from beginning to end "Dressed to Kill" plays like a modern remix of "Psycho" that neither improves on the Hitchcock classic nor is it entertaining in its own right. Like countless other 1980s thrillers, "Dressed to Kill" is a cheap, cheesy, and often silly movie with bad production value and shallow characters. None of the "scares" are effective and by the time the main character is killed off, the plot looses momentum and the movie becomes nothing more than a run of the mill horror flick. While the performances are engaging, they're not enough to save the movie from a weak script and uninspired direction. Watch "Dressed to Kill" if you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, but otherwise you should avid this one. 5/10.
The similarities are so striking they're beyond homage - from beginning to end "Dressed to Kill" plays like a modern remix of "Psycho" that neither improves on the Hitchcock classic nor is it entertaining in its own right. Like countless other 1980s thrillers, "Dressed to Kill" is a cheap, cheesy, and often silly movie with bad production value and shallow characters. None of the "scares" are effective and by the time the main character is killed off, the plot looses momentum and the movie becomes nothing more than a run of the mill horror flick. While the performances are engaging, they're not enough to save the movie from a weak script and uninspired direction. Watch "Dressed to Kill" if you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night, but otherwise you should avid this one. 5/10.