Brew Views: Body Double

Double duty.

BODY DOUBLE
By Rebecca Jacobson

While some filmmakers pay subtle homage to their forebears, Brian De Palma makes no attempt to hide his Hitchcock obsession. All month long, in a series called Deja Vertigo, the Hollywood Theatre pays tribute to the director's psychological thrillers of the early '80s. First up is 1984's Body Double, which screws together (pun intended—there's a murder involving a massive power drill) Vertigo and Rear Window to produce a story of claustrophobia, voyeurism, pornography and grotesque facial disfigurement. Though it has none of Hitchcock's obsessive control, it makes up for it with a surfeit of sleaze and sex. And, in another neat tie to the Master of Suspense, it stars Melanie Griffith—daughter of Tippi Hedren, one of Hitch's blond muses—as a hardcore porn star with a bleached David Bowie 'do.

  1. Playing at: Hollywood Theatre.
  2. Best paired with: Burnside Brewing Lime Kolsch.
  3. Also playing: Stories We Tell (Laurelhurst), The Muppet Movie (Academy).

WWeek 2015

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