Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous woman dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers—with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.
Body Double is Brian De Palma at his most self-referential and audacious — a gleefully shameless mashup of Rear Window and Vertigo filtered through sleazy 80s LA and the adult film industry. Cinematographically it's exceptional: Gordon Willis-lit set pieces, the drill murder sequence, the beach tracking shot, and the Gotcha! music video are all virtuoso filmmaking. Novelty is high because no other film occupies quite this particular intersection of giallo, meta-Hollywood satire, and erotic thriller with De Palma's unmistakable operatic excess. The plot is serviceable pulp with clever construction but full of contrivances that strain credibility. Acting is decent but unremarkable — Craig Wasson is a weak anchor and Melanie Griffith outshines everyone in a supporting role. The ending deflates considerably, resolving the mystery in a rushed and somewhat unsatisfying fashion that fails to match the delirious energy of what preceded it.