Rating: 
Summary: BODY DOUBLE (COLUMBIA PICTURES/1984)
Review: "BODY DOUBLE" is another in a long line of crass and brutal Hitchcockian thrillers by director De Palma. The story centers around a claustrophobic, out-of-work actor named Jake Scully (played engagingly by the underrated Craig Wasson) who discovers his long time girl has been cheating on him, and thus slums around with several of his acting buddies while trying to get his life straightened out. When one of his friends offers him a job babysitting some plants at a lavish modern home while the owner is gone overseas, Jake jumps at the chance. But along with the mundane task of watering the foliage and keeping the house clean, Jake is introduced (via telescope) to a naughty neighbor who performs a routine striptease that is too tempting for him to resist peeping in on. As night after night goes by, Jake becomes convinced that the lady's life is in danger, and (through a series of brilliant montages) begins to follow her on the road, through a shopping mall, and on a crowded beach which ends in a wonderful chase squence. To reveal anymore of the plot would be detrimental to the viewer, but as Jake investigates deeper and deeper into his neighbor's life he encounters a young, quirky porno star (Melanie Griffith) who proves to have a lot of valuable information that sheds some light on the woman's kinky behavior. Director Brian De Palma does an excellent job concocting a superb and intriguing mystery while enlivening it with swirling camera moves and neat little touches here and there, but if you're expecting an old-fashioned suspense picture forget it: "BODY DOUBLE" is gruesomely violent, filled with harsh language, and saturated with nudity and sex (needlessly so for such a short and straightforward murder mystery). So be forwarned if you see it. But despite its exploitative nature, the film can be hailed as a successful exercise with a top-notch cast and a solid narrative. ULTIMATE GROSS OUT MOMENT: watch out for that power drill! HARSH LANGUAGE: about 40 words, VIOLENCE: about 7 scenes, NUDITY/SEXUAL SUGGESTIVENESS: about 12 hard-core scenes (RATED R/114 minutes).
Rating: 
Summary: Depalma's Vertigo
Review: "Body Double" is, in every way shape and form, a modern masterpiece, the same way "Vertigo" was and is. Our lead man suffers a similar phobia and is enveloped by the same paranoia of a murder consipracy invloving the victim switch. Point of view shots are used in a simialr vein and our leading man constantly speaks in his best James Stewart drawl. Other than lacking the customary Deplama split screen (which would have made the most sense in this of all Depalma films) "Body Double" is spectacular. Low budget elements are a deliberate mesh with the story of making a low budget horror, dated music is well represented. The plot, on the other hand, is filmed with the brilliant conventions we come to expect from depalma. dennis franz is not as raw as he was in "Dressed to Kill". Any NYPD Blue fan has got to check out "Dressed To Kill" to see the real detective at work. Here, you actually never know what is real and what is set-up making "Body Double" a quintessential thiller for all lovers of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a try, but too insubstantial to be a classic
Review: "Body Double" certainly has a few memorable scenes - if a movie as voyeuristic as this didn't, then it would get a one-star rating. Difficult to figure out if Brian de Palma isn't perhaps parodying himself as well as Hitchcock - there is a thread of humor through the movie that makes it hard to regard it as a real suspense thriller. Not one to raise your hopes high for, but worth a go.
Rating: 
Summary: POSSIBLY THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE (Really)
Review: "Body Double" is, in every way shape and form, a modern masterpiece, the same way "Vertigo" was and is. Our lead man suffers a similar phobia and is enveloped by the same paranoia of a murder consipracy invloving the victim switch. Point of view shots are used in a simialr vein and our leading man constantly speaks in his best James Stewart drawl. Other than lacking the customary Deplama split screen (which would have made the most sense in this of all Depalma films) "Body Double" is spectacular. Low budget elements are a deliberate mesh with the story of making a low budget horror, dated music is well represented. The plot, on the other hand, is filmed with the brilliant conventions we come to expect from depalma. dennis franz is not as raw as he was in "Dressed to Kill". Any NYPD Blue fan has got to check out "Dressed To Kill" to see the real detective at work. Here, you actually never know what is real and what is set-up making "Body Double" a quintessential thiller for all lovers of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Depalma's Vertigo
Review: "Body Double" is, in every way shape and form, a modern masterpiece, the same way "Vertigo" was and is. Our lead man suffers a similar phobia and is enveloped by the same paranoia of a murder consipracy invloving the victim switch. Point of view shots are used in a simialr vein and our leading man constantly speaks in his best James Stewart drawl. Other than lacking the customary Deplama split screen (which would have made the most sense in this of all Depalma films) "Body Double" is spectacular. Low budget elements are a deliberate mesh with the story of making a low budget horror, dated music is well represented. The plot, on the other hand, is filmed with the brilliant conventions we come to expect from depalma. dennis franz is not as raw as he was in "Dressed to Kill". Any NYPD Blue fan has got to check out "Dressed To Kill" to see the real detective at work. Here, you actually never know what is real and what is set-up making "Body Double" a quintessential thiller for all lovers of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: So bad that.....
Review: .....I thought when I started to watch this that it was actually a spoof. If De Palma had thrown in some intentional humor, it might have been great. Alas, none of the funny parts were intended to be side spliting. What a disaster! Very sad for De Palma and Griffith. What was she thinking. Did you folks that gave this five stars, really think it was that good, or are you just perpetuating the joke? Shame on you!
Rating:
Summary: DePalma Ain't Hitchcock....
Review: ...but was every one of Hitchcock's film considered great when they first came out? No. Critics started giving him more props in retrospect.And such is the case with DePalma's crazysexybloody suspense thriller "Body Double". It is much, much better than originally thought. You have got to give it to the man for the sheer audacity of not sparing us from a thing in the graphic drill scene, but, hey, like the peeping tom Wasson, we wanted some kinda payoff of all this voyeurism...I mean, that's what the average movie viewer wants also. It gets kinda surrealistic thinking about all this who's watching who, but the upshot is--did DePalma set us up, big time! Ain't that what we want from movies, anyhoo? Also, he set us up with several other scenes, such as with the bloody ending credits and the gravesite scene. I also think DePalma kinda thought it was 'in-jokey' to have Melanie Griffith cast in one of his most blatantly Hitchcockian (this and "Dressed to Kill", are the two) thrillers. You are gonna have so much fun with this in DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Anyone who thinks this is porn...
Review: ...come to my house and I'll show you the real thing. Very entertaining story, well-made by DePalma. Fun, Hitchcockian sleaze.
Rating:
Summary: RUN QUICKLY! SAVE YOURSELF!
Review: ...Not only does it derive the entire story from Hitchcock movies, but its also graphically violent and sensationalist where Hitchcock would have used subtlety, the scene where a woman is killed with a POWER DRILL is pobably the best example of DePalma's second rate abiilities as a director...Do youself a favor and get one of his better movies like carlito's way, the untouchables or mission impossible. Or even better buy Vertigo or Rear window,...ever major scene in the movie has pretty much been derived from an older and better movie.
Rating:
Summary: Edgy Voyeurism
Review: A movie is an indulgence in voyeurism, so a movie about voyeurism is no stretch! Actually it is very effective, as it pulls the viewer into the movie connecting with the voyeur and compels the viewer to feel as though they are part of the movie! The tension is built up very effectively throughout the film, especially during one particular scene that I won't give away. Let me just say it will have you on the edge of your seat, clenching whatever you can, completely engrossed in the action. If this movie is a homage to Hitchcock, I think he'd be honored!
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