Following a housewife’s brutal murder, the only witness to the incident teams up with the woman’s son to try to find the culprit which leads them to the patient of a psychiatrist who treated her and tries to stop the killer from striking them in order to cover the crime. This one turned out to be quite the rather enjoyable effort. A lot of the film’s great parts come from the manner in which this one deals with the expectations featured here of the film by following so close to its influences. As it follows so close to the main format here, as the general structure employed here comes directly with the structure of having the first half focus solely on the victim to get killed off and then morph over into the investigation into the incidents, that makes for a great deal of fun here as it deals with the few changes to be had with the storyline. That familiarity lends itself a great deal to the overall manner in which this one moves along as that keeps this one a lot more entertaining than it really should be without a whole lot of slashing action throughout here. With a big emphasis on the murder investigation and her involvement in the procedure, there’s a nice emphasis here to follow up the later adverts of that ones’ followers in a distinctly European manner by introducing not only the main investigation from the police but also going rather nicely into the amateur investigation by way of a piece of evidence only briefly glimpsed during the incident that becomes a central part of the investigation. These elements all give it a rather distinct and pronounced atmosphere to these brands of films which really lets it dwell in that type of sleaze far more comfortably than would be expected, not only from the type of nudity but also the rather stark sex scenes and frequently intoned psychosexual themes from the killer’s motivation which is straight out of that particular school of thriller which makes this one connect quite well there. Even with some incredibly well-done stalker scenes, including the opening attack in the elevator, the subway sequence or the finale at the office which give this some rather suspenseful stalking as well to balance it all with plenty to like. These don’t help the fact that there’s just not a whole lot of slasher action here, as the more thriller aspects here dominate this one so it doesn’t have a lot of stalking scenes and the body count itself is so low as to not really offer much in the way of bloodshed or gore. Those looking for a straight-up slasher won’t be interested in this one at all. Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language, Full Nudity, Graphic Violence and several intense sex scenes.

It is an enjoyable film...but one with several natural endings. And that kind of makes for a fail. You're ready for the movie to be over after it concludes and then you wait until it concludes again, and then you wait until is actually concludes. However, it is tense, which is a De Palma hallmark, he knows how to make for a tense thriller, and that is where the appeal is, that is what really sets Dressed to Kill above a lot of other films. It plays on the nerves.