Sisters (contains spoilers)

An early De Palma oddity. By all accounts, this is probably his breakthrough, and it uses many motifs he would apply later on - the Hitchcock tribute, the psychic overtones, split screen, excessive sex and violence (not that much here though).

The first half takes some time to build up - it looks as if he spliced "Rear Window" with an episode of "The Streets of San Francisco". The quaint archaic Bernard Herrmann doesn't help much either - it's overtly bombastic. There is quite a bit of split-screen. Sometimes innovative - the pov show the detail of some scenes, other times gimmicky - why use two camera angles when one should do? And it's headache inducing as well. The first half also shows a bit of paucity in direction.

The second half, however, is pure delirium - the b&w flashback scenes owes much to Tod Browning's "Freaks" and a portent to the future, especially "Eraserhead". Is it just me or is the "treating a straight person as a mad person" sequence morbidly funny?

In the end, what strikes me most is how realistic this is - the characters bleed to death slowly instead of the fast despatch, the pop psychology of the twins' mind-set, the power of hypnotic suggestion and a cut to the femoral artery does kill.

Also, I have to say this is highly influential, with Lynch (the b&w sequences), Cronenberg (the dualism and integrity of the twins' mind), Tarantino and Stone (the opening television show sequence) paying their dues to it. Highly recommended, along with De Palma's best - Phantom of the Paradise and Blow Out.