Body Double

1984, Movie, R, 109 mins

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Wasson is a second-rate actor who has just been released from his latest opus, a sleazy horror movie. Henry, a colleague who gets work in Washington, offers Wasson the job of house-sitting at his huge circular house atop a Hollywood mountain. Wasson accepts and spends his evenings peering through a telescope at a beautiful woman across the way who undresses in front of an unshaded, uncurtained window. The bored Wasson watches her every night and is soon in love with the woman. Then, one night, she is viciously murdered while he watches from across the street, helpless. He tells the police what he has seen, but without physical evidence, they discount his story. Investigating on his own, Wasson meets Griffith, a punky porno actress who has been hired by an unknown someone to play the role of the woman stripping in front of the window. She's to serve as a body double for Gloria, but why? Contrived, shallow, distasteful, and ultimately pointless, BODY DOUBLE is more an exercise in empty cinematic style than an engrossing thriller. Although cinematographer Burum executes some absolutely breathtaking camera moves, his effort goes for naught when pitted against director De Palma and cowriter Avrech's insipid narrative. What De Palma has done here is simply take elements from two superb Alfred Hitchcock films, REAR WINDOW (1954) and VERTIGO (1958), and combine them into one insipid film. While Griffith is sexy and appealing in her role, Wasson's character is so bland that he generates little interest. leave a comment
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Body Double
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