SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

evanston_dad SPOILER: A movie that doesn't really make a lick of sense when you think about it but that is so stylishly entertaining that you can't look away....yep, you guessed it, another Brian De Palma movie.In this one Margot Kidder plays a woman whose Siamese twin died when they were separated and who now has a good twin/bad twin split personality. The good twin is a mousy thing with a French accent; the bad twin hacks people up with butcher knives. A busy body reporter (Jennifer Salt) who lives across the way witnesses one of the murders and tries to convince the police to investigate. When they don't take her claims seriously, she enlists the help of a private detective (Charles Durning). I'm not sure why she does so, because he does barely anything and she goes off on her own to investigate the crime herself. This leads her to a mental institution where.....oh, just see the wackadoodle thing yourself.De Palma again tips his not so subtle hat to Hitchcock, and even hires frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann to compose the film's terrific score. Themes of voyeurism (again, see Hitchcock) abound, but I'm not sure what De Palma is really using them to say, or indeed if he's trying to say anything at all. I just enjoyed watching his groovy use of split screens.Grade: B+

gridoon2018 Brian De Palma's first thriller shows very clearly his love for the genre. It is inventively and assuredly directed, with masterful (and playful) use of the split screen (notice how this filmic device starts off by showing events that happen in two different buildings, later it moves on to events that happen in the same building, and finally one and the same event is shown from two opposite sides!), and features one of Bernard Herrmann greatest (and most otherworldly) scores, as well as a supremely creepy performance by William Finley, and a shocking murder sequence. De Palma's story is not up to the level of his direction - the central twist is pretty obvious. But "Sisters" is more about the visuals than the story anyway; case in point, the inexplicable but amusing final shot. **1/2 out of 4.

Theo Robertson Sometimes a TV channel can surprise you . There I was watching THE INVADERS on the UK Horror Channel wondering what graphic and mediocre movie the channel was going to throw up at us as it normally does on a 9pm weeknight . Flicking through the info button I caught the synopsis and instantly thought I was going to be something along the lines if BASKET CASE a film that despite having a cult following I wasn't mad keen on . So doing what every other puzzled film fan does I came on to this site to catch a bit more info and was slightly surprised to see it had an average user rating of 7.0 which is quite high for something being broadcast on The Horror Channel . I then glanced at the credits and was shocked to discover it's an early effort from Brian De Palma ! Hold the front page because " De Palma directs a film that is being broadcast on The UK Horror Channel " is definite headline news and let's not forget that from CARRIE to CARLITO'S WAY he was one of Hollywood's leading film makers . This alone makes this rather obscure and early work from the director worth seeking out De Palma is something of an acquired taste and he does sometimes come in for heavy criticism such as " one trick pony " and " Hitchcock plagiarist " and to be blunt you could make the exact criticism about BLOOD SISTERS . This was made during The New Hollywood period when film making movie brats discovered post modernism and obviously De Palma has seen REAR WINDOW . The main plot involves a person witnessing a murder from the window of a facing apartment , calling the police and the police finding no evidence , but to say it's a rip off of a 1950s Hitchcock classic is to do it a disservice . The story is very much updated to the 1970s since the witness is now a career woman who works as a journalist which is something very few women would have had in the way of a career20 years earlier . The heroine is a lot more proactive than what Jeff was in REAR WINDOW and I felt the major problem in that film was that it too static for its own good . There's also an air of weary 70s cynicism where the police are useless are to be blunt total " pigs " . Since the Hays Code had been nullified a few years previously the film contains much more graphic violence than you'd have seen in a 1950s movie One thing Hitchcock described about his movies was " The ice-box effect " By this he meant when you watched one of his movies you went to the ice box to grab yourself a beer then - bang . You stop to think about the plotting and everything collapses and we see the same thing here . Someone gets stabbed to death and within the ten minutes of it being witnessed and the police arriving it's possible to get blood stains out of the carpet etc . The story suffers these unlikely implausible aspects and relies a little bit too much on coincidence and bad luck to drive the story forward . Bernard Herrman's score is very intrusive and again reminds you of his work for Hitchcock . You also tend to notice De Palma's style that he uses in nearly all his movies so despite it being an example of his early work there's a feeling of seen it all before . That said it is a highly involving tense thriller and I did enjoy this more than the film that inspired it so thanks to The Horror Channel for broadcasting it and I look forward to seeing more obscure works by Hollywood auteurs turning up

Coventry Writer/director Brian De Palma is most acclaimed for his - admittedly brilliant - epic gangster movies from the 80's and 90's ("Scarface", "The Untouchables", "Carlito's Way"), but personally I'm a much bigger fan of his imaginative, raw and often very flamboyant horror outings of the 1970's. "Carrie" is an obvious favorite, but so are the "The Fury", "Murder à la Mod" and the oddly stupendous but still criminally underrated "Phantom of the Paradise". And also "Sisters" is a very worthwhile and entertaining motion picture from the period De Palma was still a struggling young filmmaker. Particularly the first half hour is a crude and shocking psycho-thriller that once again showcases the director's blatant obsession of Alfred Hitchcock, while the rest of the film is more of an experimental paranoia/medical horror (although Hitchcock's influence is clearly present here as well). The Canadian actress/model Danielle, on the run for her stalking ex-husband, meets the gentle Philip during a crazy TV-show entitled "Peeping Tom" and invites him to her Staten Island apartment for a passionate night. The next morning, however, Philip discovers that Danielle has a twin sister named Dominique, and she isn't nearly as hospitable or charming. From her apartment across the street, the ambitious journalist Grace Collier witnesses how Philip is brutally murdered, but by the time the police arrives, all the evidence has disappeared and they don't believe her story. Grace starts her own private investigation, which unravels disturbing secrets about Danielle, Dominique and ex-husband Emil. Since the background of the twin sisters is rather predictable, even if you haven't read or heard anything about the plot from beforehand, the whole second and final act of "Sisters" isn't too suspenseful or surprising. De Palma attempts to compensate for this by inserting grotesque surgical horror, black humor and an ambiguous open ending. Speaking in terms of style, our director effectively uses cool split-screen and excessive gross-out gore during the murder sequence and flashbacks. De Palma could also rely on a downright terrific score by Bernard Herrmann and stellar performances from Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt and particularly William Finley as eerie husband/surgeon. His character reminded me of a sinister Nazi doctor or even a cold war spy, and his hypnosis sequence is genuinely uncanny.