The Michelangelo of Murder

Brian De Palma vivisects his decadent career in an enthralling new documentary

Brian DePalma is well known for his murder-filled movies.
(Image credit: DePalma/EPK)

Brian De Palma is often billed as "the Master of the Macabre." It's a generic moniker that, while pleasantly alliterative, reflects the common misperception that the director is just ersatz Hitchcock. This claim is, of course, false, and has been false for over 40 years. No one kills people with the bravura relish of De Palma. He is the Michelangelo of Murder, a man who crafts decadent, deviant works of art using viscera and celluloid in lieu of paint.

One of the most polarizing American filmmakers to emerge from the Hollywood New Wave of the '60s and '70s, De Palma has amassed a legion of acolytes — fans who'd love to chew your ear about the meta-musings of Body Double, or fawn over the gleefully campy Phantom of the Paradise — as well as a horde of detractors who see in his perverse psychosexual thrillers little more than rampant sexism guised by stylish camerawork. Everyone has an opinion on Brian De Palma, including Brian De Palma. His may be the most interesting.

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Greg Cwik

Greg Cwik is a writer and editor. His work appears at Vulture, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Believer, The AV Club, and other good places.