Body Double

BODY DOUBLE (18)

D: Brian de Palma

Columbia/Delphi (Brian de Palma)

USA 🇺🇸 1984

114 mins

Thriller

W: Robert J. Avrech & Brian de Palma

DP: Stephen H. Burum

Ed: Jerry Greenberg & Bill Pankow

Mus: Pino Donaggio

PD: Ida Random

Craig Wasson (Jake Scully), Gregg Henry (Sam Bouchard), Melanie Griffith (Holly Body), Deborah Shelton (Gloria Revelle), Guy Boyd (Det. Jim McLean), Dennis Franz (Rubin)

Brian de Palma's version of Hitchcock's Rear Window which might as well have been made as a softcore porn film, with Craig Wasson as an out-of-work actor and occasional voyeur who witnesses his neighbour being murdered.

This thriller begins interestingly enough but then just becomes cheap and sordid as it abruptly enters the world of pornography. The inclusion of a music video for a Frankie Goes To Hollywood song halfway through the movie is simply baffling, coming completely out of nowhere like a punch to the head. Melanie Griffith is the standout of the cast in a limited role, while Craig Wasson lacks the acting skills to give a credible or convincing performance.

4/10