Dressed To Kill Film Analysis

Dressed To Kill
Director: Brian De Palma. Date: 1980

IDENTS

• Warner Brothers
• Samuel Z Arkoff presents
• A George Litto Production
• A Brian De Palma Film

There is diagetic classical music playing before the first shot appears, denoting that the shot will be calm and serene.
The first shot shows a bedroom, it then moves outside of the bedroom to show a view of the hallway towards the bathroom, the bathroom is medium/large size, connoting that the actors will be medium class.
In the bathroom shows a medium shot of a topless middle aged man shaving with an old fashioned razor, denoting the time era, and also possibly foreshadowing that the razor may be used as a weapon later on in the film. The second person in the shot is a long shot view of a naked blonde haired, busty, heavily made up woman in the shower (all the signs of a scream queen) she is also not a teenager which denotes that the film is not for teenagers. Both of the characters are either naked or showing flesh which could possibly connote that they have just had sexual intercourse.
The next shot is a close up of the woman's breasts denoting that she is sexually active. The camera angle moves up and down the womans body which could signify that she is is fantasizing about the male that she is looking at through the shower.
The shot shows a close up of the lady wearing an engagement ring on her hand denoting that she is engaged to be married to either the man that she is looking at, or it could maybe connote that she is having an affair.
There is a close up of the scream queens face, which then a large hand covers her mouth, and a naked mans body comes up behind her, he lifts the woman and touches her all over her body which could foreshadow rape. The man begins to rape the woman from behind, as she struggles to free herself and moves his hand away to scream for the man shaving infront of the mirror, yet he does not reply.
The steam from the shower fills up the camera lense which is good inspiration for use of transition.
(THE OPENING LASTS 4 MINUTES AND 11 SECONDS)