Customer Reviews

Murder a La Mod/The Moving Finger

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is director Brian DePalma's directorial debut, and wow, is it ever deranged, demented, delirious, and delicious! A perfect combo of Hitchcock's "Psycho" and Polanski's "Repulsion", and a prelude to up-and-coming snuff films, this is an original film filled to the brim with stark originality and purpose. Told in a very non-linear, back and forth kind of way, this tells the story of Karen, a woman falling in love with Christopher, a porno photographer, stealing some cash to help finance him, and getting killed. This features the great William Finley in his screen debut as Otto, a very creepy, mysterious, silent character that is the prime suspect of the bloody crime. But, as in all of DePalma's thrillers, you can never rely on what you see; so, all is a lie until the end of the film and you realize you were duped by a master filmmaker into believing an illusion. Marvelous twists and turns abound, and such mysterious allusions applenty. Just be sure to keep your eye on the ice pick!
This is a film that is still inspiring filmmakers to this day, including one Quentin Tarantino. His entire storyboarding and shooting style derives from this one film. As many that have tried to copy this rare original masterpiece, none have ever came close.
Breathtaking and intense and hilarious on every level, an ingenious young DePalma set the world on fire with this blazing, scathing, vicious, and hilarious tribute to horror cinema. The young cast are phenominal, and the plot is cooler than ice water. But, as with a lot of DePalma's work this isn't as much about plot as much as it is about being a social commentary on the generation of lost souls. So, in that sense, I guess that (as well as other reasons) makes this just as relevant today as it was back then.
HIGHLY recommended!
Thank you...;o)

What a great surprise this movie was. If you like De Palma's dark side, this is a must see. This was an innovative film way ahead of its time. It made great use of split screens to follow different characters. William Finley turned his his best performance as the creepy Otto. Findley's perfomance, mostly dialogue free, was very Chaplinesque.

As the title said, I do believe this is William Finley's weirdest role ever, judging by the films I've seen with him in the cast. Murder a la Mod is simply amazing, in my opinion, but at times it's kind of confusing. Alas, all is resolved in the end, though. Superb movie all in all.

Murder a la mod features some deranged filmaker/artist luring females to disrobe for a "screen test" while his partner takes spy shots of the girls. Then a murder is commited employing some weird timeline angles.

The Moving Finger has an old geezer reciting some incoherent poetry while some beatniks scheme to steal $90,000 from an injured bank-robber hiding out in a basement of the coffeehouse. Unlike other SWV releases, this collection contains no special features aside from a short flick which runs just under 50 mins.

An Eye for the Girls features a New York accented voice obsessed with saying "youse" while stock footage of random war/horse riding/40's upskirt scenes are shown. Along with that, you also get chalkboard writing and still shots of a perve gawking at various topless women.

As most people who know me already know, I am hopelessly devoted to De Palma. And proud of it! Only Kubrick, Hitchcock. and the Coen Bothers are some other filmmakers that I love every film they made. But, Brian is special. Perverted and provocative and rebellious. And this little gem has those traits in spades. This is a very rare gem. It's De Palma's debut. I just heard of it a couple of years ago, and I've been a fan of Brian's ever since the 70's. This only got released on DVD about 4 years ago. It is a very rare treat, and something every De Palma fan should have.

Yes, this is director Brian De Palma's directorial debut, and wow, is it ever deranged, demented, delirious, and delicious! A perfect combo of Hitchcock's "Psycho" and Polanski's "Repulsion", and a prelude to up-and-coming snuff films, this is an original film filled to the brim with stark originality and purpose. Told in a very non-linear, back and forth kind of way, this tells the story of Karen, a woman falling in love with Christopher, a porno photographer, stealing some cash to help finance him, and getting killed. This features the great William Finley in his screen debut as Otto, a very creepy, mysterious, silent character that is the prime suspect of the bloody crime.

But, as in all of De Palma's thrillers, you can never rely on what you see; so, all is a lie until the end of the film and you realize you were duped by a master filmmaker into believing an illusion. Marvelous twists and turns abound, and such mysterious allusions aplenty. Just be sure to keep your eye on the ice pick!

This is a film that is still inspiring filmmakers to this day, including one Quentin Tarantino. His entire storyboarding and shooting style derives from this one film. As many that have tried to copy this rare original masterpiece, none have ever came close.
Breathtaking and intense and hilarious on every level, an ingenious young De Palma set the world on fire with this blazing, scathing, vicious, and hilarious tribute to horror cinema.

The young cast are phenomenal, and the plot is cooler than ice water. But, as with a lot of De Palma's work this isn't as much about plot as much as it is about being a social commentary on the generation of lost souls. So, in that sense, I guess that (as well as other reasons) makes this just as relevant today as it was back then.
HIGHLY recommended!
Thank you...;o)