Cool News
A Movie A Day: VISITING HOURS (1982) + Brian DePalma’s DRESSED TO KILL (1980)!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the newest October special horror run of A Movie A Day!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf, recorded on the home DVR or streamed via Instant Netflix and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my usual A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
VISITING HOURS was a title that jumped out at me because of the cast list. William Shatner and Michael Ironside in an early ‘80s hospital horror movie? Um. Yes.
In keeping with the last few films I’ve had on this Halloween run of AMAD Visiting Hours was a lot weirder than I expected. In my mind I pictured a more straightforward killer in a hospital movie, but what I got was a commentary on feminism… set in a hospital with a killer in it.
Lee Grant plays a broadcast news reporter who champions women’s rights, especially in a specific case where a woman was jailed for killing her abusive husband in the middle of a horrific beating. She’s debating this with the prosecuting attorney on her show and a creepy looking, pierced freak is getting pissed while watching it.
I didn’t even realize this freak-show was Michael Ironside at first, not until he invades Grant’s house after the show and cuts her up.
There is a certain cheese factor you kind of have to expect when exploring ‘80s genre films, especially something with a DVD cover that has a big skull on it, so this opening sequence was a bit different than I was expecting. The tone is deadly serious, almost something out of a Brian DePalma movie. Ironside stalking Lee Grant through the house isn’t done to entertain you, but to creep you out.
And Ironside plays it the nines, which is awesome. He’s a juggernaut here, a human rhino filled with hatred towards women, especially strong women.
Grant is able to escape with her life, but she’s real hurt. Naturally she goes to the hospital for surgery and recovery, but Ironside isn’t one to leave his work unfinished, so he keeps trying to sneak in a kill this woman.
There’s a B storyline following a young mother and head Nurse (Linda Purl) as she befriends Grant that is interesting, but doesn’t fully work. At some point Ironside gets this nurse in his sights too, and starts stalking her. It’s like they set her up to be the tragedy of the story, but don’t have the courage to step past that line when the time comes.
By splitting the narrative the filmmakers over-complicate the second half of the movie. Not only are we following Grant’s recovery and the nurse’s home life we also stay with Ironside and learn more about him, especially where his hatred of women who will stand up for themselves comes from.
It’s too much and muddles the movie at a certain point.
I won’t go so far as to say that the movie gets boring. It doesn’t, it just gets over-complicated and doesn’t go as far as I wanted it to.
One Mr. William Shatner is also in this movie. However he’s not in it much. Where Michael Ironside’s role was a pleasantly bigger, more intense part than I was expecting I was very disappointed with the amount of Shatner in the movie. Not only that, but he plays a boring character.
Shatner is Grant’s boss at the news station and also her main squeeze. He’s there at the beginning, chastising her about stirring the shit on the air, gets a little of his flirt on, then visits her a couple of times in the hospital. He never really does anything other than be Grant’s support at key moments of emotional distress.
Considering this was released the same year as WRATH OF KHAN I was hoping for a substantially bigger role for Mr. Shatner, but that’s not what I got. Cue echo-screaming to the stars! “IRONSIDDDDEEEE!”
Final Thoughts: While it may be a flawed movie, it is heads and tails better than I expected it to be mainly because it takes the situation seriously and doesn’t go for the tongue-in-cheek winky-winky at the camera exploitation feel that I expected from the cover and title. If this story was developed by someone like DePalma, Cronenberg or Paul Schrader it would have been taken to that next level and might be incredibly famous today. As it is, it’s a strong, underseen movie, but not a classic.
I mentioned Brian DePalma a couple of times in the above review. While I was tempted to go with another hospital-set horror movie for the recommendation title, I think instead I’ll go with a like DePalma thriller from the same era.
Brian DePalma’s DRESSED TO KILL is out of print, but available on Video On Demand and also still available to rent on Netflix (but not Netflix Instant, damnit!).
I came to DRESSED TO KILL a little late in life. I don’t know what your movie-watching habits are, but I’ll find a director or actor I like and then indulge in their films like a buffet, watching a whole bunch at once.
With DePalma I did that as a teenager. I grew up with Carrie, loved it, so I did a run where I discovered my favorites of his work: PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE and BLOW OUT. I stopped at Blow Out, leaving a few more surprises for me to uncover later. DRESSED TO KILL was one of those surprises I hadn’t watched until the last couple of years.
And boy is it fucked up.
In Michael Caine’s great autobiography (called What’s It All About) he said that after he did this film he refused to do another horror movie because of how disturbed he was by living in this world. Then he did JAWS: THE REVENGE, but I guess that one falls more into the category of “comedy” than “horror,” yeah?
DePalma is always given shit for his Hitchcock homages (or rip-offs depending on which side of the argument you’re on) and he’s never been as blatant as he is in this movie. But that doesn’t matter. Sure, Angie Dickinson is the Janet Leigh of this movie. Sure there’s an even deeper Psycho vibe than that (spoiler!). Who cares? A good movie’s a good movie and I really dig DePalma’s twisting of Hitchcock’s style into something grittier, darker and more brutal.
Plus Hitchcock never had a young, nubile Nancy Allen slut it up so hotly or an aged, but still sexual dynamite Angie Dickinson in a crazy graphic shower scene. Hitch’s shower scene turned out slightly different…
There’s a myriad of characters, including the sensible psychiatrist (Michael Caine), a snoopy teenager (Keith Gordon), a gruff New York cop (Dennis Franz) and the hooker who witnesses a murder (Nancy Allen) all circling around a peculiar woman-hunt. Turns out this blonde slasher is a patient of Caine’s and he joins up with the witnesses to find his dangerous ex-patient before she kills again.
The mystery of the movie might not be all that hard to figure out and is probably known already by many of you even if you haven’t seen this movie, but it speaks volumes about how well-made this film is that knowing the “twist” doesn’t ruin the experience.
There’s a scene with Dickinson being followed through a museum that plays out without any dialogue and is pure suspense, switching POVs and creating the type of atmosphere that made DePalma a master of this era.
Dressed To Kill is shocking, graphic, crazy, disturbed and just fucking great. Totally my kind of movie.
Here are the next week’s worth of AMAD titles:
Friday, October 9th: MACABRE (1980)
Saturday, October 10th: PRIVATE PARTS (1972)
Sunday, October 11th: ROAD GAMES (1981)
Monday, October 12th: DEAD END DRIVE-IN (1986)
Tuesday, October 13th: PSYCHIC KILLER (1975)
Wednesday, October 14th: THE BODY SNATCHER (1945)
Thursday, October 15th: THE LEOPARD MAN (1943)
See we’re headed back a little bit over the next week, ending up at the last two Val Lewton movies I didn’t hit last year. See you folks tomorrow for some Lamberto Bava!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
AMAD Halloween Spectacular 2009:
October 1st: Nothing But The Night (& The Wicker Man)
October 2nd: Beware! Children At Play (& The Devil Times Five)
October 3rd: Cameron’s Closet (& Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
October 4th: Afraid of the Dark (& The Lady In White)
October 5th: The Pit (& The Gate)
October 6th: Brain Damage (& Basket Case)
October 7th: Brain Dead (& Braindead, aka Dead Alive)
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
-
+ Expand All
-
-Michael Caine
-
And the Spanish Poster is freaking amazing. Thanks for the post ! I'll be checking this one out for shoooah....
-
A Blade in the Dark is only slightly better. Private Parts is a lot of fun, though. Very twisted. You should enjoy that. Also, in keeping with your "crazed children" motif, I wish you'd had included "Who Could Kill a Child?". It's a great, nasty little chiller that, in my mind, is the best "kids suddenly become killers for no discernible reason" flick of all time.
-
Tough as nails Lee Grant is the only person who could possibly take Ironside.
-
You've saved the best Val Lewton movies for last, Quint. THE BODY SNATCHER is a very good movie, one of Karloff's best acting roles, and THE LEOPARD MAN is friggin' amazing, a truly great proto-slasher movie.
For a double feature, maybe watch THE BODY SNATCHER with THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS, and THE LEOPARD MAN with director Jacques Tourneur's last great horror movie, NIGHT OF THE DEMON. -
I liked VISITING HOURS as a kid, but haven't seen it for years. But I do remember that Ironside was a very disturbing villain.
And DRESSED TO KILL is just a classic. Yes it stole from Hitchcock (besides PSYCHO, the entire Dickinson in the museum was taken from VERTIGO) but how often did Hitchcock show extreme CU of Angie Dickinson's privates while she masturbated in the shower (or at least her body double)? -
but a body double. This scene will lead to another great movie from Brian. Can you guess its title?
-
Quint, I know you reviewed that last year, but I just wanted to say thanks, TCM back in June or July was doing a director a day type feature where they were featuring works from one or two directors each day, and they showed I Walked With A Zombie at like 2 in the afternoon, and I loved it. I don't think I would have watched it if you hadn't reviewed it, so thanks for that man
-
And I have never understood the respect that DePalma gets from people. He is adequate, but hardly worthy of study. Having said that I like this movie and love me some Angie Dickinson.
-
Oct 09, 2009 5:22:20 AM CDT
Dressed to Kill isn't available from netflix where I live...
by the_crimson_king
though Body Double still is, damn you Netflix! good thing I saw Dressed To Kill years ago though and it's pretty good and pretty creepy
-
Sean Connery who passed on it because of scheduling I believe, but recommended this to his friend. Caine was great, but it would have been cool to see Connery in that. These and other tidbits available in Michael Caine's autobiography What's It All About? Read it, or remain ignorant.
-
the lift scene in Dressed to Kill is just awesome, when Nancy Allen sees that weird blonde in the mirror when she reaches in to get something she dropped (can't remember what it was), always creeps me out. Also that museum scene is also a classic. I'm definitely in the De Palma genius camp.
-
Any recall that great Saturday Night Live kit from the early 80's. It was a fake movie trailer that came between the opening monologue and the first skit. Love how they did the De Palma "split screen" showing people running on one side and the clams chasing them on the other. Rated R for "rip off".
-
Oct 09, 2009 7:49:24 AM CDT
"I love Dressed To Kill! Everything except the dee-KNOW-ment, th
by nasty in the pasty
"That's DENOUEMENT!"
-
FIX THE FUCKING SITE, HARRY.
-
May have been my favorite of the Val Lewton series. So hard to choose though...
-
therefore it's an elevator, not a lift. All joking aside yeah, that was a great scene. I'm surprised no one's mentioned the love for Dennis Franz yet. All he does is play asshole cops, but he plays them so well.
-
I was actually gonna put in lift/elevator just to cover all areas! Yeah Franz is also superb in Blow Out, another scummy character!
-
But it's not really horror, more "thriller" genre, and chock full of "Hitchcockisms". "Dressed to Kill" is cool too as I remember, though I haven't seen it in at least 15 years.
-
you have to love a movie that has an entire sequence devoted to a Frankie Goes To Hollywood song, plus the music that plays when Craig Wasson spies on the girl is awesome too
-
... plot device in "Body Double" will bend your brain I guarantee...
-
VISITING HOURS has the distinction of being the first movie my parents rented for our shiny new VCR. I was 12.
-
is one of the best examples of pure cinema in recent years. All acting, camera movement and editing. Brilliant.
-
did this, Chrstine, and then kind of faded away. I wonder whatever happened to him. He was a good actor, but maybe he got pigeonholed into geek roles. At least in Dressed to Kill he was a geek on a mission.
-
Oct 09, 2009 9:09:57 AM CDT
Although I will admit, after Sisters, Carrie and Dressed To Kill
by skimn
The heroine waking up to the nightmare at the end did get played out.
-
Dexters.
-
Keith Gordon that is...
-
Ironside as a cyborg baddie in that scifi bmovie,how was it called,Space Hunter or something.I remember he had large mechanical claws instead of hands.Anyway now he is Sam Fisher.
-
was that the 3D movie with a young Molly Ringwald?
-
This is often confused with Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn. Both were in future waste worlds, both in 3-d, and both had bald baddies with mechanical claws. Richard Moll played the baddie in the latter.
-
Oct 09, 2009 9:43:36 AM CDT
Just checking to see if anyone gives a fuck about these articles
by revenge_of_fett
Conclusion: Not really.
-
Please add that to your list, along with Demi Moore in "Parasite". Make it an 80's 3D evening.
-
I have no idea what it was about. It was in the late 70s early 80s 3-D renaissance which included the above movies, Friday the 13th 3-D, and not much else.
-
log that was the shark. VH1's I Love The 80's even gave it a shout out. Yea....I mentioned VH1...sorry.
-
double issue about the resurgence of 3D in the mid 80's. Funny how much things change, they stay the same.
-
Ugh, I saw The Body Snatcher recently and I thought it was BORING!!!!
-
Oct 09, 2009 11:02:56 AM CDT
Fett also sucked off Joss Whedon and declared Dollhouse
by disgruntled_chinaman
was shit, far below AMAD, which actually has a following.
-
Oct 09, 2009 11:13:29 AM CDT
Visiting Hours snivveling cry-baby killer = Zombie's Michael Mye
by venvariants
Anytime you try to psychoanalyze a serial killer in a movie, it always comes back to Michael Ironside crying in a corner about his mom...
-
Ah the good old days, when Richard Moll played bald mutants in every other movie. And the Val Lewton canon is such that its hard to choose a favorite. I Walked with a Zombie remains my top choice, but The Body Snatcher and The Leopard Man are both great. Can't go wrong either way.
-
But he does it so well, sometimes you have to give him props. Sean Connery was to play the lead? That's a trip, since he was in Hitch's "Marnie.""Body Double" was an unfortunate casualty of the Reagan 1980's. The porn community was to have an even more prominent role in the film, with allegedly porn stars in leading and major supporting roles. The studio freaked out and De Palma had to scale back to them being just bit players. Would have been an additional homage it Hich, since "Frenzy" was Hitch's only post WW 2 film to not have any American actors.One of the cable channels has the rights to "Dressed to Kill", I saw it about a year ago. Hope they put it back in rotation.-----later-----m
-
Michael Caine in both movies surprises and brings a level of awesome to both films. While Dressed To Kill is the better or the two anyone who's a Michael Caine fan should really check out The Hand. Also, The Hand is directed by some guy named Oliver Stone, who also plays a hobo victim in the film!
-
For selecting both Visting Hours and Dressed To Kill. Both are really creepy films, and very unsettling as well.
-
Will be delayed. I slept for half the day upon returning from Ireland and have plans tonight. But Macabre will be watched and reviewed before I sleep. Just a friendly heads up from your neighborhood seaman.
-
felt just as you did. I do wish there was more Ironside in the world today(t4 doesn't count)....Will see dressed to kill. over and out
-
That's, that's aboot it...
-
This movie was mostly boring as fuck. It did however slightly redeem itself when Ironside delivered one of the best "I've just been stabbed to death" faces I have ever seen. His death in this was a great piece of acting on his part. Whenever he was not on screen all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Poochie?" errr..I mean "..Ironside".
-
cause I needed to jolt my testosterone after the femenist vagina-thon that was this movie.
-
What about Treasure of the Four Crowns? Which was from guy who directed, Comin' At Ya! By the way, love the posters for both films.
-
Saw this when it opened, one of my first visits to NYC, wonderfully shot and edited movie...still has a wee plothole, though. Can anyone tell me: (slight spoiler) how could the murderer know that Angie would forget something and get BACK into the elevator to go up again?
-
I guess you have to take that moment on faith, or maybe the killer was just waiting for the elevator to come back up so she could continue the chase, not expecting her quarry to be standing right there when the doors opened. Even going downhill, you every try using the stairs in a high-rise building to go down 10 or 20 stories? It'd probably be faster to wait for the elevator to come back up, and you wouldn't be exhausted when you reached the lobby.BTW, ever notice how many great De Palma setpieces center around elevators? The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Raising Cain...
-
"Once a year, Brian Depalma picks the bones of a dead director ... and gives his wife a job!"
-
The poster for VISITING HOURS scared the living shit out of me when I was younger. Of course, I thought it was a movie about a haunted hospital where everything in the hospital tried to kill you a la a cross between MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and 1408. Sounds like my imagination would be more fun, though Michael Ironside rules.
-
...features the 2nd set of boobs I ever saw on television. The first set was a few hours before that, before the Tina Turner concert, and belonged to Linda Hamilton in TERMINATOR (or her body-double, never knew for sure). That was the night HBO came into my home.
-
...scared the shit out of me when I saw it on TV as a kid. I was also quite freaked out by the trailer for "Halloween II" with the skull inside the pumpkin.
-
Was also in Jaws 2.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 209 total posts 207 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 160 total posts 97 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 144 total posts 77 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 68 total posts 68 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 64 total posts 60 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 480 total posts 55 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 53 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 118 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 182 total posts 27 posts