Naive young lady Karen wants to help her struggling amateur filmmaker boyfriend Christopher raise enough money so he can divorce his wife. Meanwhile, jolly psycho prankster Otto stalks the building where Christopher is shooting a low-grade adult movie in order to keep himself afloat.
Brian De Palma would go on to become the number one Hitchcock imitator with the release of films such as Sisters, Body Double and Dressed to Kill. It's his style that he is most famous for; so as you would expect, his first feature is absolutely full of style and various experiments...
Isn't it strangely fascinating how a talented and visionary filmmaker will always distinguish him/herself from the others, regardless of how ridiculously little financial means he/she has to work with? "Murder à la Mod" got released on the Something Weird label in America and on similar Grindhouse-type of DVD label here in the Dutch speaking countries, but it's almost too good to get associated with the usual stuff these labels throw on the market.
Naive young lady Karen (a sweet and appealing performance by the pretty Margo Norton) wants to help her struggling filmmaker boyfriend Christopher (excellently played by Jared Martin) raise money so he can divorce his wife. Meanwhile, jolly psycho prankster Otto (a gloriously unhinged portrayal by William Finley) stalks the building where Christopher is shooting a low-grade adult feature in order to keep himself afloat.
Just finished watching this early De Palma, and I am glad that I was finally able to see it. I have seen almost all his early films and this one certainly was not boring, in fact there were a few thrills and chills.
I bought this expecting nothing because I knew nothing of it, I had always thought Greetings was De Palma's first feature but I was wrong I guess. I thought this movie would have the feel of a student produced documentary or something small like that, but this film is somewhat wide in scope and pleases for a movie of it's age.
This review is only for peeps who love their DePalma. Everyone else can drop a star or two.
I'm so glad that Something Weird Video has issued this lost low budget film. This is Brian De Palma's first Solo attempt at feature film making.
