Of all the "movie brat" directors that came out of the New Hollywood era, Brian De Palma has to be the most underrated. While audiences always remember his most popular films, like Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito's Way, they tend to overlook some of his most compelling work. Before spending the latter part of his career making gangster movies and crime dramas, De Palma was the "movie brat" most associated with horror and thrillers. Aside from being the first director to adapt a Stephen King book, his love and passion for the history of horror in cinema went on to inspire him to tell those kinds of stories throughout the first decade of his career.

De Palma's first movie to attract audiences was the 1972 thriller Sisters, which highlighted his grasp of edgy material inspired by thrillers of the past. De Palma would make multiple thrillers and horror films in the '70s, including Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession and Carrie. By the time the '80s rolled around, De Palma was getting ready to transition into different genres. However, he made two films before Scarface in 1983 that solidified his place as a master of suspense like Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, his 1980 classic Dressed to Kill is his thriller masterpiece, and aside from exploring Hitchcock elements, Dressed to Kill is a film that was inspired by Brian De Palma's own experiences growing up.

From the very beginning of the film, it is clear that Dressed to Kill is exploring Alfred Hitchcock elements. As an homage to the 1960 classic, Psycho, Brian De Palma bookends Dressed to Kill with shower scenes that comment on the iconic sequence in which Janet Leigh's character is brutally murdered. However, the Psycho comparisons don't end there. Between having two blonde leads (with one used as misdirection as to who the protagonist is), De Palma is comparing his characters to the Janet Leigh and Vera Miles characters in Psycho. Ultimately, the "final girl" becomes Nancy Allen's character, Liz Blake. Then there is the killer in the film having a conflict of identity which includes gender. This is commenting on the Norman Bates character but doubling down on the topic of gender identity and transsexuality. That is the beauty of Dressed to Kill that deserves attention.

De Palma is also making a film during a period of time when Italian cinema was capitalizing on the concept of Hitchcock thrillers. In general, it is common for exploitation titles to be released that mirror the most popular genre films of any given era. In other cases, an entire new wave of genre films populate specific cultures. Italian literature was inspired by Hitchcock's films and began releasing thriller novels in the same vein. These novels would then inspire the "Giallo" wave in Italy, in which filmmakers were making their own kinds of Hitchcock thrillers. With a more violent approach to thrillers, Giallo films would go on to inspire a lot of '70s and '80s slasher movies in America. Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill is a Giallo thriller that builds on Hitchcock's Psycho in a more contemporary way. Everything in the film is deliberate, like the depiction of sexuality, violence and mental health, which is not bound by the obligatory constraints of Psycho. Dressed to Kill is stylistically one of the most compelling films of the '80s and doubles down on Hitchcock thrillers and giallo cinema in every way. For this reason alone, it might be Brian De Palma's greatest film.

The only thing that might keep Dressed to Kill from being De Palma's overall masterpiece is a misstep in terms of the actual reveal of the killer. There isn't an "aha" moment that audiences are expecting where Liz or Peter actually discover the truth for themselves. The final cross-cutting sequence had an opportunity to capitalize on this by having Liz discover something in Elliot's office that reveals the truth just moments before being attacked. While it makes sense why De Palma would want to mirror Psycho instead (literally having a wig fall from the killer's head), the "aha" moment would have been an effective deviation from the 1960 classic. With that being said, there is no denying the overwhelming style and craft in Dressed to Kill as well as a personal element for Brian De Palma that makes the film his thriller masterpiece. While the performances are worth noting, especially Michael Caine and Nancy Allen, it is Brian De Palma's presence that adds extra depth to the story.

When he was a child, honing his earliest directorial skills with a camera, his mother confided in him about suspecting De Palma's father of cheating on her. At his mother's request, De Palma would follow his father around with his camera and record his movements in order to try and catch him in the act. It is easy to see how this would stick with someone, it just happened to stick with a cinematic artist throughout his formative years. Those experiences not only inspired Dressed to Kill, but they also inspired the inclusion of the Peter character. Peter (played by Keith Gordon) is an unexpected highlight of the film. It's almost a wonder what a child's perspective would be doing in a story like this, but his inclusion is vital to the film's progression. Peter is clearly a conduit for De Palma himself, who uses his unique skills and talents to capture the truth about Elliot (or Elliot's "patient") with a camera. This aspect is also a comment on Hitchcock's use of voyeurism in Rear Window, which is expanded on through De Palma's personal touch. It becomes the essential piece of Dressed to Kill's structure. To top this all off, De Palma's visual craft is on display in a myriad of ways that include split-screen remembrances, intentional reverse shots in a mirror and immersive shot compositions. De Palma's vision, mixed with engaging performances and Pino Donaggio's mesmerizing score, makes Dressed to Kill the quintessential thriller of the 1980s.

A year after Dressed to Kill and two years before Scarface, De Palma would make another masterwork in his career, Blow Out. While the argument could be made that Blow Out is the best thriller in De Palma's career, there isn't as much personality to the film as there is in Dressed to Kill. Furthermore, fans could begin to see the direction De Palma was going in when he made Blow Out, which combines thriller elements with the crime drama genre. While it is true that Scarface is most likely Brian De Palma's masterpiece, it is debatable whether Scarface is actually a better movie than Dressed to Kill or even Blow Out. One thing is for sure, Scarface is much more iconic and reigns supreme in the pop culture zeitgeist. When a director makes a movie that is so universally popular, it is hard to remember a lot of the films that came before it.

De Palma would continue to build on the success of Scarface by making more films in the genre and even teaming up with Al Pacino again a decade later. Like Scorsese, De Palma channeled his inner Italian-American background and found a second calling in the gangster genre. Scarface is still one of the most memorable movies to this day, while The Untouchables portrays one of the most compelling biographical tales of prohibition, Al Capone and the battle between good and evil. Carlito's Way is without a doubt Brian De Palma's most underrated gem and gave fans one of the best gangster movies of all time in the '90s. De Palma also went on to make the first in a long line of Mission: Impossible movies, which the value of can't be overlooked. However, while all of these films are definitely more popular, that doesn't necessarily mean they are better than Dressed to Kill. At the very least, it is hard to deny that De Palma's 1980 classic is his masterpiece (in the thriller genre).