When I was a child, there were no video stores. There was no Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or
iTunes. Heck, there was no Internet, at
least not that was available to the public like it is today. But I had two things: HBO and a Betamax. When I wanted to “own” a movie, I “taped” it
on one of its HBO airings, made a neatly printed label for the box and added it
to my physical library.
My family got its first Betamax for Christmas in 1977. The first thing I recorded was a re-run of
the second season premiere of Charlie’s Angels, the two-hour episode called
“Angels in Paradise”, which introduced Cheryl Ladd to the series. I had to watch a show when I taped it to
pause every 15 minutes, give or take, so I could “cut out” the commercials.
When I taped something, I watched it over and over and over
again. (Ah, what I’d give for the time
to do that now!) One of the first movies
I taped on HBO was Sisters (1973). I
loved that movie! I watched it before I
saw many other better-known horror films like Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby or The
Exorcist. And I watched it more times
than I’ve watched those other movies to this day.
Thankfully, when I re-watched it recently for the first time in many
years, it holds up incredible well. The
first thing that comes to mind when I think of Sisters is its director, Brian
DePalma. And when I think of Brian
DePalma, I think of style: long one-shot
takes, spinning cameras and, most of all, split screen. Sisters began a nearly 10-year stretch where
DePalma was a true master of horror.
DePalma was controversial during this period of time because he was
considered in some circles to be the “new Hitchcock”. Apparently, you believed only one of two
things about DePalma, that he was a transcendent auteur or that he was a
mimicking, copycat hack. I believed the
former; in fact, I wrote my senior year English research paper with the thesis
that he was the new Hitchcock.
From 1973 to 1981, DePalma made Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise,
Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill and Blowout, all favorites of mine
and worthy of a modern day Hitchcock.
This was before he went in a different direction with movies like
Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito’s Way.
These still utilized his unique style, but were not classic horror or suspense
thrillers.
I’ve long maintained that Dressed to Kill is my favorite DePalma
movie. After re-watching Sisters,
though, I think I prefer its less polished style. It’s obviously made by a young director
trying out new things and it feels fresh and exciting to this day. It’s also very dark and twisted. What begins as a standard, yet stylish murder
mystery, later becomes a lurid, almost hallucinogenic horror movie.
Another reason I now prefer Sisters is that the showy DePalma style
is used more sparingly. For example, the
split screen is used far less than I remembered, and it’s used more effectively
than I think I’ve ever seen in any movie.
Technically, it’s brilliant; I can’t imagine the level of detail
required to plan such shots. Visually,
it’s enthralling.
In Sisters, the relatively brief sequence that uses the technique,
serves two purposes. First, it provides
two different perspectives on an event at the same time. On the left side of the screen, it’s the
perspective of a man who has been stabbed crawling to a window to write “help”
in his own blood. On the right side of
the screen, it’s the perspective of a woman watching the murder from her
apartment next door.
Second, it provides real time depiction of simultaneous action. On the left side of the screen, we see the
murderer and accomplice frantically cleaning up the scene of the crime. On the right side of the screen, we see the
woman from next door talking to the police and eventually convincing them to
investigate what she witnessed. I find
this technique much more suspenseful that an intercutting of scenes where we go
back and forth between the action.
On a psychological level, the screen first splits at the same time
the main character suffers an emotional split.
Is that heavy handed and obvious filmmaking or is it subtle and
clever? I think it may be a little of
both, but I like it a lot. It adds
multiple levels to the experience.
Reflecting on the many times I watched Sisters in my teen years, I bet
it’s the reason I became interested in the “art” of making a movie.
The aforementioned murder takes place in the apartment of Danielle
Breton (Margot Kidder). She is one half
of a pair of conjoined twins who were recently physically separated. Her trick for the evening, Phillip (Lisle
Wilson) does not apparently notice the giant scar on her hip as he caresses her
thighs. When the other twin, Dominique,
discovers their night of passion, she flies into a jealous and murderous rage.
The entire first half of Sisters leads up to and includes the
violent murder of Phillip. It then
shifts to the point of view of Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt), the neighbor
woman who must conduct an investigation of her own since the police could find
no evidence of the murder. She hires a
private detective, Joseph Larch (Charles Durning), infiltrates the hospital and
becomes intimately involved in the twists and turns of the story.
Once at the hospital, it’s a rollercoaster downhill as dark secret
after secret is revealed. It’s trashy,
it’s exploitative, it’s gruesome, but man, is it entertaining! Sisters calms down a bit for a two-part
conclusion that’s perfect. Not exactly a
twist, but certainly a gotcha, making you smile while you think, “oh, yeah” as
well as “oh, no.”
If you’ve never seen Sisters, now is the perfect time to discover
it. With American Horror Story: Freak
Show now airing on FX and featuring conjoined twins, you can see the homage it
pays to DePalma. (You can also see that,
no matter how entertaining, the TV show is an inferior product, at least in
comparison.)
That leaves us with the homage DePalma pays Hitchcock in
Sisters. It’s in large part Psycho meets
Rear Window, but I’ve never believed DePalma was robbing from Hitchcock. If anything, his movies put a “modern” spin
on Hitchcock. The influence is obvious,
but it’s not blatant plagiarism. I truly
believe DePalma took filmmaking to a new level with Sisters. Familiar in style, perhaps, but it’s
undoubtedly something you’d never seen before in 1973. Or even in 1977 on HBO, for that matter, taped
for posterity on a worn out Betamax cassette.
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