Dressed to Kill

R

Now Playing

1h 45m

Mystery & Thriller

List

83%

59 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When Liz Blake (Nancy Allen), a prostitute, sees a mysterious woman brutally slay homemaker Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), she finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police think Liz is the murderer, the real killer wants to silence the crime's only witness. Only Kate's inventor son, Peter (Keith Gordon), believes Liz. Peter and Liz team up to find the real culprit, who has an unexpected means of hiding her identity and an even more surprising motivation to kill.

Read More

Read Less

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

In Theaters

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent Dressed to Kill on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

With arresting visuals and an engrossingly lurid mystery, Dressed to Kill stylishly encapsulates writer-director Brian De Palma's signature strengths.

Read Critics Reviews

Allen R

I saw this looking through a modern lens, but the twist wasn't very surprising and although the shots and camera moves are gorgeous, in particular with the POV in the museum, it felt like some of the slower dollies, pans, and tilts were too slow that the audience could figure out what the shock was before it happened. That all said, it is a beautiful movie to look at.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/24

Full Review

Audience Member

One of DePalma’s best.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/24

Full Review

S R

Trashy bizarre transsexualism when it was normal to demonize it. The music was alright, the camera work good, but the acting was a bit off and the plot was cheap. Saw on TCM.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/16/23

Full Review

Marc Z

This movie is an interesting part of film history. The topics handled here, over 40 years ago, are relevant today but also relatively more mainstream today but utterly shocking in 1980. Brian DePalma has a distinct and important place in film history. I have to admit that some of his deliberate and conscious filming choices are not my style. On the other hand there are unique and eerie elements of this film that make it very watchable and very distinct. The film, for many reasons, could not be made today. For one, there are elements of the story that would be crushed by today's technological breakthrough. For another, the topics explored are very sensitive to the current population, and in the current conversation. Regardless, there is a lot to relish here. The performances of Nancy Allen, Dennis, Franz, and Michael Caine are great. The characters are a little over the top, but the performances are great. Nancy Allen is best horror victim, aside from Halloween's Jamie Lee Curtis, since Janet Lee. Angie Dickinson is good for the role she played and the publicity it brought the film, but she is not terrific in this. Dated, but worth seeing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/01/23

Full Review

Pragya Kirti R

DePalma's mystery thriller isn't as complicated as it looks from the outside but he surely makes a visually impressive and creatively shot thriller out of a Hitchcock's film and mind you, it's a pretty brilliant attempt. His distinctive visual style, arresting camera work and continuous long shots are the best thing of this film. The museum sequence is darn enthralling, A perfect game of hide and seek with an enticing urge to it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/12/23

Full Review

Steve D

It has really aged poorly.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/13/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Brian De Palma

Director

Michael Caine

Doctor Robert Elliott

Angie Dickinson

Kate Miller

Nancy Allen

Liz Blake

Keith Gordon

Peter Miller

Dennis Franz

Detective Marino

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Museum Encounter

4:24

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Seducing Dr. Elliott

2:16

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - You're Not a Psycho

2:10

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Subway Chase

2:43

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Watching Phil Donahue

2:11

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Transsexuality

2:37

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Murder on an Elevator

3:13

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Shower Nightmare

2:07

Dressed to Kill: Official Clip - Behind You!

1:46

View more videos

88%

81%

Blow Out

55%

41%

What's the Matter With Helen?

78%

65%

Body Double

61%

43%

Eyes of Laura Mars

85%

72%

Sisters

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

On DVD This Week: Homeland Season Four, Age of Adaline, Gotham Season One, And More

View more photos

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

De Palma shows the kind of restless intelligence which suggests that he will want to work in many different forms, and certainly he needs more chances to work on a larger scale... But he doesn’t have to move away from thrillers to prove he’s an artist.

Sep 18, 2023

Full Review

Michael Blowen

Boston Globe

Dressed To Kill is a nail-biting, seat-squirming, stylish murder mystery with a brain.

Apr 28, 2018

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Originality has never been a high value in the genre-bound aesthetic of filmmaking, but De Palma cheapens what he steals.

Sep 26, 2007

Full Review

Trace Thurman

Horror Queers Podcast

De Palma at the top of his game, with some masterfully edited and scored sequences that still hold up by modern standards.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 11, 2023

Full Review

Joe Lipsett

Horror Queers Podcast

Exquisitely directed by DePalma and bearing the key signifiers of a prototypical Erotic Thriller, Dressed to Kill does contribute to the problematic depiction of trans women as killers, though it's not as influential as Psycho or The Silence of The Lambs

Rated: 4/5

Sep 6, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... few have married the mechanics of suspense with such cinematic grace as De Palma, whose silky images and deliriously choreographed moving camera takes are both beautiful and unnerving, and not just in matters of tension and surprise

Apr 8, 2023

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

When Liz Blake (Nancy Allen), a prostitute, sees a mysterious woman brutally slay homemaker Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), she finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police think Liz is the murderer, the real killer wants to silence the crime's only witness. Only Kate's inventor son, Peter (Keith Gordon), believes Liz. Peter and Liz team up to find the real culprit, who has an unexpected means of hiding her identity and an even more surprising motivation to kill.

Director: Brian De Palma
Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff
Screenwriter: Brian De Palma
Distributor: Warner Home Vídeo, GoodTimes Home Video [us], Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.
Production Co: Filmways Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 23, 1980, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 14, 2014
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Most Popular at Home Now