The film begins surrealistically as we see a woman taking a shower. She runs her hands over body sensuously and the expression on her face is obviously one of pleasure. The score that runs in the background at the time is a pleasant one, but this sensuous bubble is burst when a man steps behind this woman, grabs her, and begins to rape her in the shower, and the scene makes a sudden change as we see a man having sex with the same woman on a bed. We find out the woman's name is Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) and that she has marital troubles. She sees a psychiatrist named Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine) about these problems. In a session early in the film, she tells him that she no longer enjoys sex with her husband. Afterward, she goes to an art museum where she meets a man she feels attracted to. In true De Palma fashion, the camera pans around the entire museum as we see Kate playing a game of cat-and-mouse with this man. When Kate believes she's lost him, the man appears in a taxi, and Kate enters inside, to which they then have a sexual tryst inside. Later, she awakens inside his apartment, apparently having the spent the whole afternoon with this stranger. As she is putting her clothing back on (the stranger is asleep) she finds a health report inside a drawer stating that he has contracted a venereal disease. Shocked and scared, Kate leaves the apartment and heads for the elevator. In what is one of the film's most suspenseful and shocking sequences, Kate realizes she has left her wedding ring in the apartment and heads up through the elevator again. As the door opens, a blonde woman with a razor creeps in and slashes her to death. It's a shocking scene as the audience begins to believe that Kate is the film's protagonist, until she is killed just a half hour into the film. Her murder is witnessed by a prostitute named Liz Blake (Nancy Allen) and her life is now in obvious danger from this blonde woman known only as Bobbi. With the help of Kate's brilliant son Peter (Keith Gordon), Liz attempts to find the killer and her identity.

After a slow first 25 minutes, Dressed to Kill is filled with unbearable suspense for the next 75 minutes. The last 3 minutes of the film are particularly nerve wracking. There are so many great suspense sequences that work throughout the entire film, all the way from the elevator scene to a chase into the subway. Those scenes should give any viewer a good scare. It's certainly what one would describe as edge-of-your seat suspense. I know those sequences freaked me out, and those last few minutes in the film is a true heart-pounding nerve jangler. This is what De Palma is good at and he should make more films like this.

The film's acting is also quite good. The film's main protagonists, played by Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon, are likeable characters and there's a certain romantic tension that develops between them. The chemistry between both characters works well. Michael Caine also delivers a good performance as the psychiatrist who begins to suspece a patient of his as the murderer. Fun to watch is an early role for Dennis Franz as the detective on the case. Angie Dickinson, though only in the film for a short time, develops her character into a sympathetic one, despite her adulterous behavior.

From the plot description above, it may seem like the film has a lot of nudity, and in truth, there is. But it never gets too explicit and it's place in the film is appropriate and it works well. Is this an erotic thriller? Well, it is somewhat like one but it doesn't really rely on a lot of sex to maintain the viewer's attention (there's really only one sex scene in the movie) such as a movie like Basic Instinct. Instead, the film is more of a psychological thriller, as it relies more on suggestion than explicit detail to scare the viewer.

Is Dressed to Kill De Palma's best suspense/thriller? Well, it's at the very least as good as Body Double. Both films have certain similarities and similar tones. There are certain aspects that work better in one film than another. For one example, the sex and nudity in Body Double does get a little gratuitous and sleazy in the second half (There's even nudity in the closing credits) while it never gets that way in Dressed to Kill. Body Double has a more ominous and creepy musical score and a very interesting protagonist (that's not to say the protagonists of Dressed to Kill aren't interesting because they are). Double's plot twists are also extremely unpredictable while one of Dressed to Kill's twists becomes obvious at least half way through the film (though I didn't think that hurt the movie). But it's really not fair to compare those two. They're separate films and should be considered on what each has to offer.

I would very much highly recommend you watch both movies, definitely late at night and with no more than one other person.