Der Tod kommt zweimal

I am a Brian DePalma's fan. I love his style, his visual uniqueness, his ability to grab me from the very opening of his films and not let me take my eyes off the screen until the very last moment and even after that keep me a captive of his dangerous yet seductive worlds. I liked a lot every De Palma's film I've seen: The Black Dahlia (2006), Femme Fatale (2002), Snake Eyes (1998), Mission: Impossible (1996), Carlito's Way (1993), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Casualties of War (1989), The Untouchables (1987), Scarface (1983), Dressed to Kill (1980), and Carrie (1976).

As with all his films, you either love "Body Double" and let its typical De Palma's over-the-top charm, his mesmerizing beautiful camera movements, his 20 minutes long, dialog-free pursuit sequence, his intense interest in exploration of sexual "dysfunction," his constantly present obsession with voyeurism, his satire on making cheap horror and adult movies, and his loving yet humorous homage to several Alfred Hitchcock's films overwhelm you or you just dismiss it scornfully for its most impossible and unbelievable story, for the plentiful coincidences and the holes in the plot, for the excessive violence, and for its sensationalism and exploitation. I found "Body Double" shocking, poignant, satirical, often hilarious, and always highly entertaining. Once again, De Palma did not disappoint me. I figured from the beginning where the story of a struggling B-movie actor (Craig Wasson) with many problems (claustrophobia that cost him a part in a horror movie, break-up with a cheating girlfriend, witnessing a gruesome murder and becoming a possible suspect) would lead. It did not stop me from enjoying the film and admiring De Palma's ability to trick me not just once but many times by making me see what he only wanted me to see, yet never hiding the whole picture and using to perfection his magic camera that "lies all the time; lies 24 times/second". I believe that De Palma himself has provided the keys to better understanding and enjoying his films when he said, "My films deal with a stylized, expressionistic world that has a kind of grotesque beauty about it." All we have to do - to recognize the beauty behind the grotesque.

P.S. Melanie Griffith gave her best performance and stole all her scenes as a hot blond smart porn star with "a head for business and a bod for sin" who might help Jack to solve the mystery of the brutal murder he had witnessed.

P.P.S. After I finished watching "Body Double", I added to my rental list "Blow Out" (1981) and "Sisters" (1973). Exploration of De Palma's worlds continues.

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.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 4.

Brian De Palma has had it with his critics and the rating's board. After the cuts that needed to be made to his masterpieces like DRESSED TO KILL and SCARFACE (which eventually got to be released in its intended format inconspicuously), the line is drawn. So naturally, he would make a movie about it. The result is BODY DOUBLE, a big thumb-in-the-nose to Hollywood conventions and 80's pop-culture. It's one-part Hitchcockian thriller and one-part satire, but its an all-around crazy movie.

If you despise De Palma, chances are you'd consider BODY DOUBLE as one of his worst. Here, De Palma doesn't give a damn if you get him or not. Here, he revels in who he is and what he wants. He also intentionally throws in the trashy 80's fad at the time, from a tacked in music video of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's one-hit wonder "Relax" to the voyeuristic obsession with porn, as the sufficient atmosphere (as well as a social critique) of the era. The story, which basically riffs VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW, has a B-movie actor named Jake Scully (Bill Maher look-alike Craig Wasson) who has a very bad day when first he gets fired from his only B-movie gig and later sees her girlfriend in bed with another man. Discouraged, he bumps into a friend named Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry, the most noticeable "Hey, isn't he that guy?" character actor appearing in De Palma's films) who invites him to watch over his place; a campy-looking tower mansion that looks like it came out of an episode of LOST IN SPACE. While there, Sam introduces him to his "favorite neighbor", a beautiful woman named Glora Revelle (Deborah Shelton) who does a striptease in her bedroom, not knowing she's being watched. Every night, Jake would watch Gloria doing her routine like clockwork through a telescope, which is harmless perverted fun until he realizes that her life may be in danger; danger in the form of a weird-looking Indian(!) who's spying on her too.

It may take a lot of suspension of disbelief to understand the plot of BODY DOUBLE as it goes to even crazier heights. At first, it looks like the usual De Palma-as-Hitchcock thriller with some terrific sequences, then it turns into something out of a slasher film, then enters the sleazy world of 80's pornography where a young Melanie Griffith plays Holly Body, a porn star who may be a key to solving the crime. But when people realize that this is meant to be a thriller-cum-satirical comedy, they might enjoy it more. As usual, De Palma demonstrates his talents with staging mise-en-scene in sequences like when Jake stalks Gloria who is being stalked by the Indian (which is obviously borrowed from VERTIGO but is actually a little more voyeuristic in nature here) and there's the REAR WINDOW-inspired scene where Jake spies on Gloria while she's doing her striptease routine, backed up by a catchy score by Pino Donaggio.

Overall, it's not meant to be taken seriously. "It's only a movie!", Hitchcock once said to some of his difficult actors, and this movie screams that mantra. Wasson's character was meant to be a an average loser and his casting isn't just coincidence; he was meant to play the audience's surrogate. The film being set in Hollywood is another. And is it no wonder that the director that Dennis Franz plays is a direct copy of De Palma? BODY DOUBLE thumbs its nose at Hollywood and many pop-culture fads of the era, turning out to be both a sleazy re-working of Hitchcock's classics and a clever satire.

I admit when I rented this movie, I did so just to get some cheap thrills. I was aware of the negative reviews from uptight critics who dismissed it as sleaze, and to be honest, that's what I was in the mood for. Besides, my curiosity was aroused. (No cheap jokes, please!)

To my surprise, this is actually a compelling, well-crafted thriller. Let me take it a step further. It's an improvement over DePalma's effective but overpraised "Dressed to Kill." "Body Double" is actually better-constructed and better-paced. Perhaps the extremes of the film's content turned off some members of the critical community. And keep in mind that many of these people loved Dressed.

However, if you can stomach some of the content (it would certainly warrant an NC-17 in today's climate), there's much to like here. DePalma's approach might be manipulative, but when he does so this effectively, it's hard to complain. Technically, it's a marvel of film technique. Wasson's claustrophobic attacks are effectively conveyed to the viewer. When they hit him, they hit us just as hard. The very ending, which I wouldn't dream of giving away, is a work of pure genius. The infamous drill murder is a terrific setpiece.

One aspect that interested me was its attitude towards porno. So-called "dirty movies" are not condemned, but treated as simply being another side of the film industry. It's not considered right or wrong; it's just there. Such a nonjudgmental outlook is refreshing after hearing the tiresome rants of self-appointed "moral watchdogs." Likewise, there is a loving tribute to B-movies during the opening and closing credits.

"Body Double" isn't good art by any means, but it's good trash. Watch it, and you will behold DePalma at his sleazy best. He makes no apologies for what he does, nor would we want him to do so.

***1/2 (out of ****)

Released by Columbia Pictures

Body Double is directed by Brian De Palma, he also co-writes the screenplay with Robert J. Avrech. It stars Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton, Guy Boyd and Dennis Franz. Music is by Pino Donaggio and cinematography by Stephen H. Burum.

Brian De Palma continued his crusade to push buttons of the sensitive whilst homaging his hero Alfred Hitchcock, with this cheeky, garish, sleazy thriller. Even when moving away from Hitch like movies, he created a storm with Scarface (1983), so the critics of 1984 wondered if a return to suspense thriller territory would put the director back on an even cinematic keel? Not a bit of it! The reaction to Body Double was ridiculously over the top, apparently a misogynistic homage to the porn industry, with exploitation gore thrown in for good (bad) measure, Body Double was the devil's spawn in the eyes of critics. The public? Not so much, film was a sure fire hit at the box office.

Of course today it seems all very tame, where not even a simulated drilling killing can raise the temperature of the audience, or that frank sexual language and bare bodies no longer makes cinema goers blush. On reflection now it's easy to view De Palma's movie as a visionary piece of work, a film gently poking the ribs of Hollywood and the MPAA, and as was always the case with his 70s and 80s work, he was a director who easily elicited a response from his audience. And with his box of cinematic tricks still impressive before he became over reliant on them, Body Double is a fascinatingly lurid viewing experience.

That it's Vertigo and Rear Window spliced together is a given, but that doesn't make it a bad film, besides which it bears the De Palma stamp as well, undeniably so. Plot finds Jake Scully (Wasson), a struggling actor with claustrophobia, thrust into a world of murder, obsession, deceit and paranoia, for when he house sits for a newly acquired friend, he spies a sexy lady through the telescope apparently being stalked by an odd looking Native American. To reveal more would spoil the fun of anyone watching for the first time, but suffice to say that Jake has entered the realm where neo-noir protagonists wander around wondering how and why they are in this mess.

It's pulpy and pappy, but in the best ways possible, and unlike many other films made by directors who ventured into similar territory, it's never boring (hello Sliver). Cast are appropriately cartoonish or animated, the twists fun if not hard to see coming, and with De Palma's visual panache cosying up nicely with Donaggio's musical score, Body Double is fine entertainment brought to us by a director with a glint in his eye. 8/10