This movie has three terrific sequences, any one of which is worth the price of admission. The extended double pursuit sequence, in which Jake follows Gloria to and through a fashionable shopping mall while intently aware of the 'Indian' who is following her, all of it taking place without dialog, is spellbinding. So is the follow-up sequence, as Jake follows Gloria to an upscale seaside "cliff dwelling." The music video-style porno movie scene is simultaneously satirical and irresistible, with the camera gliding through a busy, crowded set where everyone is moving to the rhythm of a pop song that goes on and on.
If you are uncomfortable with sleaze, you won't like this movie, which has plenty of it in its depiction of cheap horror flicks and cheap porn movies, not to mention the scenes with Gloria being watched through a telescope as she strips. The final scene, with its close up of a vampire fondling the breasts of a body double and of the blood from his kiss flowing over them, is purposely over the top and literally "in your face." Also very much "on purpose" is De Palma's use of iconic situations from Vertigo and Rear Window. Those who like this may call it homage to Hitchcock; those who don't may call it a rip-off. To me it's all too blatant to be either.
It's a good movie. Brian De Palma is almost always stylish and entertaining. If you can stand sleaze, it's well worth a look.
If you are uncomfortable with sleaze, you won't like this movie, which has plenty of it in its depiction of cheap horror flicks and cheap porn movies, not to mention the scenes with Gloria being watched through a telescope as she strips. The final scene, with its close up of a vampire fondling the breasts of a body double and of the blood from his kiss flowing over them, is purposely over the top and literally "in your face." Also very much "on purpose" is De Palma's use of iconic situations from Vertigo and Rear Window. Those who like this may call it homage to Hitchcock; those who don't may call it a rip-off. To me it's all too blatant to be either.
It's a good movie. Brian De Palma is almost always stylish and entertaining. If you can stand sleaze, it's well worth a look.