40th Anniversary Screening! 4K Restoration!
Neon Dreams celebrates the 40th anniversary of the film that epitomizes both "neon" and "dreams". Brimming with moments of pure cinematic bliss that include (but are not limited to) a single-take porno shoot set to "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, a certain setpiece involving an electric drill, and Pino Donaggio's juxtaposingly serene score. Brian De Palma's Body Double is a gloriously excessive ode to Hitchcock that repurposes Rear Window and Vertigo into a surreal giallo and sun-baked L.A. noir.
Struggling actor Jake Scully (Craig Wasson, doing his best Jimmy Stewart impression) is offered a house-sitting gig in the Hollywood Hills (filmed in the legendary "Chemosphere" tower) where he witnesses a murder that inspires him to play private detective and catapults himself into the sleazy world of underground pornography. Will he find the killer? Will he protect the girl? Is he in too deep?
De Palma's followup to Scarface was more than a little inspired by his battle with the studios over avoiding an X rating on that picture. In his own words: “If this one doesn’t get an X, nothing I ever do is going to. This is going to be the most erotic and surprising and thrilling movie I know how to make… I’m going to give them everything they hate and more of it than they’ve ever seen. They think Scarface was violent? They think my other movies were erotic? Wait until they see Body Double.”
This screening and others are made possible thanks to our wonderful sponsor Hollywood Suite.