De Palma thriller

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 14

De Palma thriller

The first five minutes of a new film. “Blow Ont." which starts at the Carlton. tomorrow. is immediatelj’ recognisable as the work of that relatively recent “master of the macabre" — Brian De Palma.

Several naked couples in various stages of sexual togetherness are spied on through a window by a menacing stranger. The camera pulls back to reveal a second figure - raising a knife over the first — the knife drops and the murderer moves on to the shower cubicle, where his next unsuspecting victim is waiting.

If the scene seems vaguely familiar to those who saw De Palma's previous work. "Dressed to Kill." so it. should.

For in this opening sequence. De Palma is deliberately sending himself up by way of introducing his new film’s scenario. A minute after the shower victim lets out a less-than-convinc-ing scream, a voice off camera yells “cut" and we find ourselves on a film set. It is a tribute to the filmmaker that even in parody he can deliver more suspense and shocks in five minutes than many parallel movies do in total. “Blow Out" is typical De Palma, stylised, larger than life, with characters very much “out" of the ordinary.

De Palma, whose polite low-key personality seems to be in direct contrast to his bizarre movies, has been criticised for the exploitation of sex and violence on the cinema screen. His answer to such criticism is straightforward enough: "When you work in an art form, you are very aware of what its primary strengths are. and I think film is one of the few mediums you can deal with sex and violence — you can't really do it on television or stage. So they're elements to be explored on film." And explore them Brian De Palma has done with a vengeance. In "Sisters." a Siamese twin is endowed with the evil spirit of her dead sibling, and in “Carrie." a vengeful teenager finds she has awesome telekinetic powers. Then-there was "Phantom of the Paradise" (now a cult - horror classic), revolving ; around a deformed rock star. And in the most recent, “Dressed to Kill," a transsexual murderer gave Angie Dickinson the closest of • shaves — with an open razor. With “Blow Out" Brian De Palma has reunited his real life wife Nancy Allen, witti John Travolta. They played; opposite each other in "Car-.', rie,"