Cheesy and overrated. A guy spies on a woman. The women just happens to not walk around naked but does strip shows and masturbates, every night at the same time. Why not? He then follows her around town because.... nothing better to do? Hes infatuated after kne view of her show? Yeah right. She even dumps some panties in a bin and he picks them up. Lovely. Thats the story development style here. This movie is over sexualised for the sake of it that's for sure. She's also followed by a bad guy that looks like something out of Dick Tracey. Its a very cliche haggard bad guy comic look. Silly elements dont bother me usually but against this movie's potential thriller element it's a bad mix. The woman and bad guy could be more human and less caricatures. It's a slow but decently shot film, but it has no replay value thus far. The first climax moment happens as the stalking triangle of characters clash and the bad guy attempts to drill kill the women. The bad guy attempts to drill kill her very very slowly and then the plug comes out the wall. Tom and Jerry humour? He kills her and we are treated with a decent death and a dog.
The cops get involved because a) murder and b) we need a cops to doubt the innocence of the main character for a plot idea that ends there. We are later treated to some soft core porn and cheesy music.. Thanks... The main character ends up in the porn studio with the guy from Frankie Goes To Hollywood after seeing a tattoo on a women's arse in a porn movie preview. What are chances Huh? What does he know about her? Who is she?
It drags on. Not much of a thriller anymore. Was it ever? It was Rear Window lite with tits and ass.
All the plot points are eventually connected by our main character in a moment that's suppose to make us say 'ahh' but we don't care. Shame the audience wasn't feed any interesting clues or real suspense along the way. Melanie Griffiths character at the end seem to not understand what's happened to her. Odd. The end titles roles with some more soft porn.
Too much plot emptiness and undeveloped characters in this movie. It's no hitchcock and no decent spoof of porn. I enjoy the trashy nature and stupidity but that's it.

What an odd, sometimes laughable, movie, I was riding high after watching Blow Out and needed more De Palma in my life. Right from the first frame I knew this wasn't going to scratch that itch. Or maybe it did by the end?! De Palma, man. Always throwing me for a loop.

Anyway, it opens with hilarious Dracula bloody type font and then introduces what has to be the MOST hilariously awful lead actor in a major motion picture of all time. I mean this guy is the worst. What a long drop from an actor with presence like Travolts to this nobody. First off, he looks like a young Bill Maher. That has nothing to do with his acting ability but is a bit off putting. But this guy bops around like a big baby the whole movie I never wanted to root for him. He catches his wife sleeping with another man, she gives him this look like, "now what, you putz?" At that point I felt for the guy but then the rest of the movie plays out and I'm almost siding with the wife. This guy is a zero. Like he's a whiny pushover who deserves to be a pushover. Maybe that's the character but on top of that the acting choices this guy makes. Just mugging for the camera. I feel like if someone cut together a string of these "choices" it would make for one hilarious clip. Anytime he's looking into the telescope he keeps looking up and going ooh ahh and stuff. So weird.

Anyway, eventually the terrible acting grew on me in a Stockholm sort of way and actually fit the bill when the character decides to audition for a porn film and act in one so he can ask one of the stars to help him. That's right, he auditions, gets the part, and then we see a film within a film of him in this porno, pre-sex scene. We get as far as the makeout which is shot like its the most glorious makeout love sesh in the history of making out. Melanie Griffith is instantly taken. It also calls back the last time he did this, when he followed a woman all over town then saves her purse and then attacks her face with his mouth. That makeout scene was shot in such a way, with a fast camera spinning around them on a green screen I thought for sure it was a dream sequence. But nope, it was the real deal.

Okay I'm spending way too much time on this movie. Quickly....and here is where the spoilers come in. I knew the SECOND we saw a WIDE SHOT of this "Indian" that it was Gregg Henry in disguise. Maybe it's the HD or the advances in makeup since 1984, but it was clear as day. Also this movie has the unfortunate situation of Gregg Henry becoming a well known character actor who is at the very least sleazy, if not the bad guy. So when he was the buddy who got the lead this great place I was like no way there is something up with this dude. Oh and then you could tell it was him by the way he carried himself. Gregg Henry has this weird cock of the walk sort of swagger that you know its him. That was not a twist at all when the guy tore his face off to reveal him. It reminded me of Color of Night [spoilers coming for that movie] where I knew the second we saw the "guy" that it was really the girl. Instantly.

For as clear as that was, I was super confused by the other reveal, that he was the murdered lady's ex, he wanted the dude to be set up as a witness so he hired a look alike to dance like his ex wife in the window? Huh? Did not catch that. So if that really wasn't his buddies place did he also own that weird circle house? Also, is that house real?! Weird.

"I like to watch."

‘Body Double’ is Brian De Palma’s erotic mystery thriller that I went into with some idea of what to expect, for me to leave with something different.

The movie is about Jake Scully (Craig Wasson, who is fantastic in the film), a struggling actor after being fired from a low-bought vampire movie due to his claustrophobia, causing problems with production. If that was not bad enough, he finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him, and since he lives at her house, he is kicked out and left homeless and unemployed. But he manages to land a house-sitting job from another fellow actor in a modernist home called the Chemosphere, where it oversees the LA lights and the neighborhood. Among the Neighborhood is a woman who every night, almost like clockwork, strips in front of the window, and Jake spies on her through a telescope, and becomes obsessed with her. But upon spying, something is not what it seems.

Jake is also a pervert, by the way. De Palma’s pervert. But in some way, we are perverts as well because we too want to see what happens next.

De Palma is an underestimated director of genre filmmaking like this, as he elevates it every time. He takes familiar plot beats from two Alfred Hitchcock movies like ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Vertigo’, but completely spins them on its head and takes a distinctive approach. It goes so far that I had no idea where it was going, and yet, that kept me hooked as each scene moves at a pace that keeps things engaging and ridiculously batshit insane.

The soundtrack for the film by Pino Donaggio feels timeless. It has that electronic and magical wave that it is hard not to be seduced by it. One score is called Telescope, which is pure 80's in 4 minutes. It’s so beautiful but haunting, especially when the female vocals kick in. What can I say, I listen to the score every day...like clockwork.

Overall rating: De Palma once said that people either love or hate him, but for this, I love you, Palma.

De Palma Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble.

Body Double is directed by Brian De Palma, he also co-writes the screenplay with Robert J. Avrech. It stars Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton, Guy Boyd and Dennis Franz. Music is by Pino Donaggio and cinematography by Stephen H. Burum.

Brian De Palma continued his crusade to push buttons of the sensitive whilst homaging his hero Alfred Hitchcock, with this cheeky, garish, sleazy thriller. Even when moving away from Hitch like movies, he created a storm with Scarface (1983), so the critics of 1984 wondered if a return to suspense thriller territory would put the director back on an even cinematic keel? Not a bit of it! The reaction to Body Double was ridiculously over the top, apparently a misogynistic homage to the porn industry, with exploitation gore thrown in for good (bad) measure, Body Double was the devil's spawn in the eyes of critics. The public? Not so much, film was a sure fire hit at the box office.

Of course today it seems all very tame, where not even a simulated drilling killing can raise the temperature of the audience, or that frank sexual language and bare bodies no longer makes cinema goers blush. On reflection now it's easy to view De Palma's movie as a visionary piece of work, a film gently poking the ribs of Hollywood and the MPAA, and as was always the case with his 70s and 80s work, he was a director who easily elicited a response from his audience. And with his box of cinematic tricks still impressive before he became over reliant on them, Body Double is a fascinatingly lurid viewing experience.

That it's Vertigo and Rear Window spliced together is a given, but that doesn't make it a bad film, besides which it bears the De Palma stamp as well, undeniably so. Plot finds Jake Scully (Wasson), a struggling actor with claustrophobia, thrust into a world of murder, obsession, deceit and paranoia, for when he house sits for a newly acquired friend, he spies a sexy lady through the telescope apparently being stalked by an odd looking Native American. To reveal more would spoil the fun of anyone watching for the first time, but suffice to say that Jake has entered the realm where neo-noir protagonists wander around wondering how and why they are in this mess.

It's pulpy and pappy, but in the best ways possible, and unlike many other films made by directors who ventured into similar territory, it's never boring (hello Sliver). Cast are appropriately cartoonish or animated, the twists fun if not hard to see coming, and with De Palma's visual panache cosying up nicely with Donaggio's musical score, Body Double is fine entertainment brought to us by a director with a glint in his eye. 8/10

Body Double infiltrates the vehemence of adult entertainment through inspired Hitchcockian thrills. De Palma was at the height of his success during the eighties. Implementing his technical flourishes within sub-genres that we’re not necessarily accessible for the average audience member. Erotic thrillers, whilst some may describe as distasteful and misogynistic, accentuated sexualisation to further enhance the lust of man. Body Double is no different. Much like the pornographic industry that is portrayed, it certainly has a sub-par screenplay that persuades you to fast-forward to the “act” in question, yet manages to lure you into the sleazy allurement of De Palma’s technically adept direction.

After waltzing in on his partner cheating on him, a novice actor is recruited by a friend to house-sit a luxury abode, conveniently positioned adjacently to another property hosting a sumptuous succubus of temptation. Naturally, downbeat and fuelled by anger, he resorts to peeping and spying as she provocatively dances in front of the window before proceeding to creepily follow her the next day.

As the main man himself stated, this is inspired by Hitchcock’s two greatest thrillers: ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Vertigo’. The added eroticism granting De Palma’s feature a differing (if unpleasantly salty...) flavour that uniquely defines its narrative qualities. Initially, the first act kicked off with a mundane imitation of Hitchcock’s aforementioned ‘Rear Window’, opening itself up to comparative criticisms. The introductory setup, outlining Wasson’s Jake Scully as a claustrophobic unconfident mess, sent the plot down a one-way route that, upon first thought, had minimal opportunities for a U-turn. The convenience of the telescope as Scully unashamedly invades the privacy of his new temporary neighbour and his dreadful tailing techniques complementing his mediocre onscreen acting portrayals, sent my own thoughts down the predictable avenue. Was Scully a perverted mess, or was he being set up? I thought I knew. But then De Palma trapped me.

Through ornate neo-noir aesthetics and a vapid insight into the world of adult entertainment, he precariously planted a sufficient amount of false breadcrumbs to force me to second guess myself. And that I did. The mystery slowly unraveling, accompanied by a smooth monosyllabic score and Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s legendary gay anthem “Relax”, unlocking the intentions of all characters involved. Heightening the glossy lifestyle of adult performers, De Palma‘s directorial flair, mostly consisting of extended takes and distant shots, invited audiences into a tainted environment plagued by primitive regression. Tantalising voyeurism and dangerous obsession. Even hints of Argento’s influence of the giallo sub-genre.

Various techniques, especially the continuous panoramic 360 revolving as Wasson and Shelton questionably embraced each other, resembled dated homages that failed to match the noir aesthetics that De Palma meticulously crafted. The conclusive ten minutes unfortunately unwrapped certain revelations in an underwhelming manner, by having the story abruptly cut with no substantial resolution. This left myself viewing the proceeding credits montage with an overbearing feeling of unsatisfactory bewilderment.

Undoubtedly, Body Double is rough around the edges. Occasionally bypassing substantial development for evocative voyeuristic tendencies. But that does not deter from De Palma’s intrinsic cinematic approach, where the night life of Hollywood truly becomes illuminated.