THE FURY (1978)

 I had high expectations going into this movie. For one thing it's directed by Brian DePalma. He's a guy who made some great movies in the 70's and this was his follow up to CARRIE which is one of my personal favs. It's also about psychic/telekinetic powers so I'd always assumed it would be at least somewhat reminiscent of CARRIE. To my surprise the two movies are not very similar at all. A good chunk of this film follows Kirk Douglas as he attempts to find his son and elude capture by some shadowy government group. So that part plays out like a typical espionage thriller type of a situation and it's a good two thirds of the film. There is also a subplot about a High-School girl with wacky brain powers but that's not really the main focus until our two stories come together towards the end. There is a neat climax where a guy gets blown apart by someone using only their thoughts which reminded me of the famous SCANNERS head explosion scene a bit. There's actually a few things feel very David Cronberg-ian going on but his films are usually way grosser.
 While this movie isn't complete crap most of it does seem very dull and generic for the era and I would say for higher quality 70's DePalma I'd stick with CARRIE and SISTERS.

 

DRESSED TO KILL (1980)

I know most critics say that Brian DePalma just ripped-off Alfred Hitchcock for many of his films but having personally not really watched a whole lot of Alfred Hitchcock movies and having watched way more Brian DePalma movies this never really bothered me much.  Also having watched a lot of 70's Italian giallo movies I see a big influence from those in this particular movie(of course those movies have also been said to borrow from Hitchcock from time to time).  There's clearly huge influences from PSYCHO in here as well as borrowing the jump scare ending from DePalma's own CARRIE and also his trademark split screen shots.  Even with all the re-used elements I think this is a really great film made by a director who was still able to make great films(which is not so true anymore).  It's also an example of a film that takes its time and builds a plot unlike modern Hollywood which is all about rushing things and filling the screen with brainless/meaningless action set-pieces that add nothing.  This also has to be the classiest movie ever produced by AIP's Sam Arkoff.  Angie Dickinson looks very hot for her age(49) although I've read that her shower scene had some stunt nudity involved.  Having recently watched this on a big screen the way it was meant to be seen definitely helped me appreciate this even more. 

SISTERS (1973)

“Did you know that the germs can come through the wires? I never call and I never answer. It’s a good way to get sick. Very, very sick… That’s how I got so sick! SOMEONE CALLED ME ON THE TELEPHONE!” - the Lysol lady

Not in any way Brian De Palmas best work. I'm thinking CARRIE for that although most people would probably pick SCARFACE. This is still an interesting Hitchcokian rip-off kind of movie with a great bloody Dario Argento/giallo style murder scene in it. It gets bizarre enough in parts to boggle your mind and it's engaging enough to make you wanna see what the outcome is. Also feels a bit like a David Cronenberg film in parts. You could definitely do worse than to check this one out.