Body Double

Brian De Palma's "Body Double" is one of my favourite films made in early 80's.This memorable thriller obviously borrows some elements from Alfred Hitchcock's "Verigo" and "Rear Window",but it's still entertaining and delightfully sleazy.There are some wonderful moments of style-particularly the Indian's attack on stunningly beautiful Deborah Shelton seen through the binoculars.This scene is truly nerve-wracking and gruesome.The acting is excellent and the score by Pino Donaggio is great."Body Double" carries the audience through a convoluted plot,making the story quite believable and captivating.It's surely not as good as De Palma's earlier releases like "Sisters","Carrie" or "Dressed to Kill",but I wasn't disappointed.Check it out,if you're a fan of murder mysteries.

Sort of a cross between "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" but instead of James Stewart we get Craig Wasson as a struggling actor mixed in with some sly jokes at the film studios, actors, and adult films. Visually very stylish with hypnotic score. Bizarre music video sequence is well done to the tune of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. If you can look past the plot holes, it's an entertaining over-the-top effort from De Palma.

"Body Double"'s plot is transparent and derivative - it's like a slick, R-rated update of "Vertigo" (although there is at least one crucial difference: here, the hero falls obsessively in love with the real thing, not the double; and I have to say I agree with his choice, Deborah Shelton is hotter than Melanie Griffith), with some "Rear Window" thrown in, and a (mostly satirical) side trip to the pornographic industry. But if you surrender yourself at the hands of Brian De Palma, his direction is so fantastic, and so assured, that the film becomes an entertaining, at times even exhilarating, experience. It's erotic, (briefly) violent, surprisingly funny, and occasionally positively surreal. Perhaps one of the key thrillers of the 1980s. *** out of 4.