Sisters – Criterion Collection
Margot Kidder is Danielle, a beautiful model separated from her Siamese twin, Dominique. When a hotshot reporter (Jennifer Salt) suspects Dominique of a brutal murder, she becomes dangerously ensnared in the sisters’ insidious sibling bond. A scary and stylish paean to female destructiveness, De Palma’s first foray into horror voyeurism is a stunning amalgam of split-screen effects, bloody birthday cakes, and a chilling score by frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann. Criterion is proud to present Sisters in a new Special Edition. Sisters is not Brian De Palma’s first film, but in many ways it is the first Brian De Palma film, or at least the first to reveal (and revel in) his affinity with Hitchcock. A pre-Superman Margot Kidder struggles with a French-Canadian accent as an aspiring actress whose one-night stand leads to a homicidal morning-after. Jennifer Salt is a reporter with more moxie than tact or skill who sees the killing from her apartment window across the way. When the police fail to turn up any evidence of the crime, Salt investigates with a private eye (the hilariously relentless Charles Durning), uncovering the secret story of a pair of Siamese twins and a weaselly, stalker doctor. It’s a mystery simmering in a stew of voyeurism, guilt, sex, and obsession. De Palma borrows from Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo (as well as Roman Polanski’s Repulsion), and composer Bernard Herrmann quotes from his own Hitchcock scores (notably Psycho) for the unsettling music, but the result is more original than you might imagine. Laced with dark humor, inventive technique, and impressive technical precision (the split-screen sequences are breathtakingly effective), De Palma flexes his cinematic muscles with thrilling results, right down to the mordantly wry conclusion. De Palma graduated to big-budget thrillers, but this modest little production remains one of his sharpest, slyest, most engrossing films. Long available only in pallid video transfers, the Home Vision/Criterion letterboxed restoration is bright, clear, and beautiful. –Sean Axmaker
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(out of 65 reviews)
Review by Matthew Forke for Sisters – Criterion Collection
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A terrifyingly twisted cult classic that wholly deserves Criterion’s exceptional red-carpet treatment. Some people believe “Carrie” brought Brian DePalma his first critical and commercial notice — but it was actually this sinister concoction (starring the lovely Margot Kidder) that paved his way to the big-leagues.I saw this for the first time in high school on one of those late-night, local independent stations in Baltimore. Being a huge “Superman” fan, once I saw Margot’s name top billed, I was hooked. I had no idea what I was in for.By today’s horror-movie standards, “Sisters” begins rather slowly. Be patient. You’ll soon be drawn into a world of mad doctors, inquisitive neighbors, overbearing mothers, slayings, slashings, malevolent institutions and one seriously unbalanced set of Siamese twins. Top this off with Bernard Herrmann’s weird, wonderful score plus the best split-screen editing I’ve ever seen and you’ve got a flick even Hitchcock would’ve been proud of.Many thanks to Criterion Collection for resurrecting “Sisters” — it’s been out-of-print for at least a decade. Great cast… clever story… it’s perfect for late-night viewing. I strongly urge fans of the genre to give this diabolical baby a whirl.
Review by for Sisters – Criterion Collection
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First of all, “Sisters” is a great movie and one of the best of the Hitchcock influenced movies. Also, it is De Palma’s best movie, mainly because he shows an incredible enthusiasm and energy for filmmaking, and the limited budget probably made him more aware of all the elements of the movie, as well as more liberated to express his film ideas more visually exciting than ever before or since. Also, the performances are very good especially Margot Kidder looking very alluring as well as psychotic. Not to mention the incredible musical score by one of the greates master composers Bernard Hermann, which definitely adds tremendously to the movie. The Criterion Collection DVDs are always great even if some of their DVDs don’t have many extras, the picture and sound quality is always excellent. The “Sisters” DVD is great, it looks and sounds better than ever, although their are no behind the scenes featurettes or audio commentary, the overall presentation is again excellent, especially since this movie had disappeared from video. Also, I would be great if Criterion would put out more great movies on great DVDs as they are able to do and more often, I can’t get enough of them and buy them as soon as they are made available.
Review by for Sisters – Criterion Collection
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A very cerebral bloodbath by a young mad scientist of a director with sex and murder on the brain. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore!The folks at Criterion have rescued another lost classic from the wear and tear of time. Previously available only in inferior prints, this lovingly remastered SISTERS marks the beginning of De Palma’s smart series of Hitchcock hommages, and for sheer terror really can’t be touched by any of its successors (Carrie, Obsession, Dressed to Kill, etc.) The plot unfolds with a terrifying calculation that avoids the arrogance of De Palma’s later work; coming off of his string of low budget independent releases (GREETINGS, HI MOM!) the young writer/director seems like a kid in a candy store. (For deeper commentary on the Hollywood milieu in which this picture was created, read Peter Biskind’s exceptional history EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS.) I was pleasantly shocked to find that Criterion had reissued SISTERS and immediately picked it up; once again–this company chooses the lesser known work of established artists. The colors and tracking shots alone are worth the price of admission. Criterion has done a masterful job with De Palma’s considerably complex palette, balancing the bright, deceptively safe daylight tones (Danielle’s apartment), with the muted deep focus hues of night (the mental institution). Deserves a whole new cult of aspiring filmmakers to analyze every frame, a job this DVD simplifies.
Review by R. A. Bean for Sisters – Criterion Collection
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In 1973, after spending the last few years making great independant films like “Murder a La Mod”, “The Wedding Party”, “Greetings”, and “Hi, Mom!”, Brian Depalma was put on the map as the new Master Of Suspense with his first ‘mainstream’ film, “Sisters”, a very demented, deranged, twisted, psychological horror film that rivals even the best of todays top thrillers. He uses themes that would continue throughout his career in this film: The doppleganger, split personalities, multiple personality disorder(s), mistaken identity, voyuerism, and horrorfying psychological madness and muder and mayhem. And sinister satire!
The film starts as a game show “Peeping Toms” is being played out before a live audience. The contestant on the show, a young black man named Philip Woode (Lisle Wilson), and the guest ‘prankster’, a model named Danillele Breton (Margot Kidder in her BEST performance ever). After the show is over, Philip recieves a gift card which is a ticket for two to have a free dinner at an African themed restaraunt, and for Danielle’s participation on the show, she recieves a very nice set of steak knives (establishing sterotypes and irony in one set piece).
They attend dinner together, where they are followed by Danielle’s ex-husband, Emil Breton (William Finley), but he is removed from the restaraunt; so they have a very nice dinner together, then go to Danielle’s to spend the night together. As they are making out, we are shown a very large, ugly scar on Danielle’s thigh.?.?.
The next morning, there is loud yelling from the next room, someone calling out “Danielle! Danielle!” in a very impatient voice that awakens Danielle, who goes to respond, having a conversation, one person speaking French, and Danielle in French-English (the accent she has throughout the entire film); then coming back and telling Philip that it was her sister, well, her twin sister, Dominique, and she is upset because today is their birthday, and she wanted to spend the day together, and is upset that Danielle has a man in the apartment. Philip gets dressed, and goes to the local pharmacy for Danielle to pick up a prescription for her, and in the meantime he drops by a local bakery and buys a birthday cake for the twin sisters, Dominique and Danielle. When he returns to the apatment, he is murdered in a very shocking scene that I will not detail for I don’t wanna spoil it for people who haven’t seen the film.
From a window in a buiding next to Danielle’s apartment building, a young female reporter, Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) witnesses the entire muder in an awesome split screen scene that DePalma first employed in this film; and, in which he uses effectively in a few more scenes. She calls the cops, there is an investigation, but no body is found, but this is when Grace starts noticing signs and/or clues that Danielle may have a sister, a TWIN sister, and all is not what it appears to be; so, she hires a private detective, Joseph Larch (Charles Durning). He finds a folder that has files on the Blanchion twins, an infamous story about two Siamese twins who got seperated about a year before, so Grace investigates the story further by seeking out the top reporter that was there during the operation, Mr. McClennon (Bernard Hughes), who tells Grace that Dominique died on the operating table.?.?.?.
And, this leads Grace, who in her (God bless her heart) naivete, and stubborness, and her drive to someday be a ‘respected’ journalist, on a search that ends in a psychological/sinister/demented/deranged/almost psychodelic/hypnotic/kaleidoscopic/bloody climax that will leave you utterly stunned, breathless, and scared witless!
And, the final twist at the end, where a particular character is watching a particular item through binoculars until the cows (literally) come home is awesome and utterly hilarious, but also very bone chilling all the same.
Of special mention: DePalma cast Jennifer Salt’s real-life mother, Mary Davenport as Grace’s mother. One of the cops was played by Dolph Sweet, who is remembered for his role on the tv sitcom “Gimme A Break”. And, the awesome score was done by the great Bernard Herrmann, who DePalma got to come out of retirement to do, and who went on to score DePalma’s “Obsession”. And, DePalma originally wanted to get bigger name stars for the roles of Grace and Philip: He wanted to get Marlo Thomas to play Grace, and Sydney Poitner to play Philip, but due to budget constraints, and/or other reasons, that never came to fuition, which in my opinion is a good thing, because what may have appeared as a good idea on paper, I don’t think would have worked as well on screen. Jennifer Salt (who had been in DePalma’s “The Wedding Party” and “Hi, Mom!”) was born for this role, and Lisle Wilson gave a very topnotch performance as the ‘male Janet Leigh’.
This is a very great mixture of genres, mainly horror and satire, and something that will stick in the recesses of your mind and stay there for days and days to come, and haunt you on a very deep scale.
As one reviewer on here put it, this isn’t DePalma’s first film, but in many ways, it is the first ‘Brian DePalma film’. Easily in the same league as “Psycho”, “Halloween”, “Suspiria”, “Rosemary’s Baby”, “Repulsion”, and referencing such greats as “Rope”, “Rear Window”, “Psycho”, and “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari”, this is a very timeless classic masterpiece that will rival anything in its genre that you’ve ever seen! And, why Margot Kidder didn’t have every award there is thrown at her for her performance is a crime, for she is show stopping in this.
Currently, there is a remake of this trying to get thatrical disribution…AVOID it!!!
This is the ONLY version of “Sisters” you’ll ever want and/or need to see!
Thank you & happy Halloween!
Review by Jay Dickson for Sisters – Criterion Collection
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DePalma was much faulted in the mid-Seveneties for being too slavish a devotee of Hitchcock, but in retrospect his most Hitchcockian films (of which is the first) allowed him to find his own voice at a filmmaker. Prior to this film, he had most directed very funny and anarchic black comedies; SISTERS, however, is a full-bore horror film, owing much to Hitchock’s REAR WINDOW and PSYCHO and also Polanski’s REPULSION. Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) witnesses a vicious knife murder in the apartment of the model who lives across from her; when she gets the police to investigate, there is no trace of blood or indication of a murder, and the model, Danielle (the amazing Margot Kidder), is completely nonplussed. As Grace does a little research into the matter, she begins to discover that Danielle was a former conjoined twin… and that’s only the start of it.
For years this film existed only in weak transfers onto video, so Criterion has done film buffs a great service in restoring this film to its incrediblly vivid fidelity of color and stock. (Despite the low budget, DePalma’s use of lighting and color in the film are remarkably exact, and worthy of his model Alfred Hitchcock.) The film is not without its weaknesses, particularly in the dull performance of Jennifer Salt as the annoying heroine and in the series of jokes he uses to end the film in sequences in Grace’s parents’s house and in Quebec. At the same time, the film is unforgettable, especially in the greast use of split screen during the first murder, the long and complexly shot sequence where the police and Grace search Danielle’s apartment and in the famous dream sequence near the end, which is clearly influenced by Fellini and the photographs of Diane Arbus. DePalma not only manages to comment on voyeurism in this work but also on the merging of identity, the corruption of the police in the early Seventies in NYC, race relations (the first murder victim is a handsome African-American man who has picked up Danielle), the process of making film and video… it’s almost too much. But it’s all here, wrapped up in an equally unforgettable Bernard Herrmann score heavy on the horns.