Body Double

Name: Body Double
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Released: October 26, 1984
Duration: 114 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith

1984

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	Your Score
6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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Body Double

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: October 26, 1984 | R

Starring: Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith

Summary: A struggling actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.

Director: Brian De Palma

Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 114 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Eric Henderson

Body Double, while not his finest, is the best candidate as De Palma’s signature film. It’s a wicked, feature-length double entendre from a Doublemint era. Take it at face value, take it for its prurience or take it for all it’s worth. Hell, try taking on all three at once. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Brian De Palma has gotten a bad rap on this one: the first hour of his 1984 thriller represents the most restrained, accomplished, and effective filmmaking he's ever done, and if the film does become more jokey and incontinent as it follows its derivative path, it never entirely loses the goodwill De Palma engenders with his deft opening sequences. Read full review

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Body Double isn’t trash, misogynistic or otherwise. It’s unrepentantly trashy – not the kind of film you watch while your parents or kids are in the house, or with your curtains open. But it’s also a complex, provocative suspense thriller that bears comparison with the three immaculate Hitchcock classics – Vertigo, Psycho and Rear Window – it gleefully drags through the sludge. Read full review

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

De Palma actually has the gall to combine the plots from both Vertigo and Rear Window in one big voyeur-fest and pull it off with a certain sly efficiency. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

Once you get past the ridiculous story this is a fine example of De Palma's lush overkill style and certainly has a redeeming thread of silly sick humour. Read full review

Pauline Kael

Most of the movie lacks zest.

Richard Corliss

His point here seems to be that voyeurism can induce a trancelike emotional paralysis—a message feminists could appreciate if Body Double took less pleasure in the mechanics of mutilation, and that ordinary moviegoers could ponder if the characters' motivations were not so numbingly nitwit. Upscale sleaze—so what else is new? Read full review

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User Reviews

Habibiehakim

Nov 18, 2021

After 1954 everytime there is a movie or a scene when/about a person peeping somebody else from a telescope, it surely inspired by Hitchcock's Rear Window, but De Palma's is a genius, he make a totally different story, so at in the end Body Double is not Rear Window, Body Double is a unique,After 1954 everytime there is a movie or a scene when/about a person peeping somebody else from a telescope, it surely inspired by Hitchcock's Rear Window, but De Palma's is a genius, he make a totally different story, so at in the end Body Double is not Rear Window, Body Double is a unique, intense, twisting story with an incredible performance by all the cast but not the character, though it was conclude/explain at in the end, Jake was a stupid person, overall, Body Double is just another excellent thriller by Brian De Palma.… Expand

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Jeckxdeel

Apr 5, 2020

De Palma is magic. This film is a serious candidate for the title of "number one thriller" all times combined. And also one of the best movies all times combined.

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JeBjBo

Jun 26, 2022

I have a hunch that this film will get even better with consecutive viewings.

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JLuis_001

Mar 28, 2019

Mysterious and with a good dose of suspense, but also absurd and with certain doses of involuntary humor. Strange, isn't? But somehow, that mixture works.

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