"Dressed to Kill" - UK Blu-Ray review.

Brian DePalma’s cult classic “Dressed to Kill” will be making its UK Blu-Ray debut this July courtesy of Arrow films, who were kind enough to provide me with a review copy to take a look at.

 

The film stars Angie Dickinson as a sexually frustrated housewife, Kate Miller, who makes up for her husbands shortcomings (so to speak) by picking up strangers in art galleries. But after leaving the apartment of her latest conquest, she is brutally murdered by a mysterious blonde haired woman.

 

Her psychiatrist, Dr Elliot (played by veteran actor Michael Caine), believes it to be a fellow patient of his, a transgendered man named Bobby, who he’d refused a sex change operation to.

 

But with the only witness to the attack being a high class call girl, Liz (Nancy Allen – Robocop, Carrie), the police suspect her instead. And with the killer now stalking her and the police not believing her, she finds herself struggling to clear her name before she becomes his next victim.

 

Also starring Dennis Franz (TVs “Hill Street Blues”) as Detective Marino and Keith Gordon (Carrie) as Kate’s son Peter, this is one of DePalmas best loved films, which was highly controversial on its release owing to its lurid mix of sex and violence.

 

The film benefits from a good cast, including British veteran Michael Cane, who puts in a commendable performance as always and Angie Dickinson, who has a couple of interesting nude scenes. Which reminds me, she must have been almost 50 when she filmed this, but still looked incredibly fit for her age.

 

This Blu-Ray release is of the fully uncut, unrated version of the film and as with all arrow releases, comes packed with a whole host of special features.

 

First off, there’s a series of interview features.

 

-Dressed in White (with Angie Dickinson)

-Dressed in Purple (with Nancy Allen)

-Lessons in Film making (with Keith Gordon)

 

In which the cast discuss their roles in the film.

 

Then there’s a selection of making of features…

 

-Symphony of Fear, in which producer George Litto discusses his work with Brian DePalma and

-Making of a Thriller, which is a 45 minute making of documentary, featuring interviews with Brian DePalma, George Litto and stars Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz, and…

-Slashing Dressed to Kill, in which the director and cast discuss the many scenes that had to be cut to avoid an X rating in the US.

 

Also included is…

 

-Unrated and R rated comparison feature, which is a side by side comparison of the cut and uncut scenes along with the recut footage used in the US TV version.

-Theatrical trailer, and…

-Stills gallery, comprised of many rare behind the scenes photos.

 

In addition, the case also contains a special collectors booklet, featuring linear notes on the film by critic and author Maitland McDonagh and the sleeve comes with reversible artwork.

 

The film is released on Blu-Ray on Monday the 29^th of July from Arrow films.

 

Buy the Blu-Ray from Amazon.co.uk