The Cinematheque

New Restoration

“Brilliant, wry, and scary.”

Paul Schrader

“What the Devil hath joined together let no man cut asunder!” Brian De Palma’s first foray into the high tides of horror is a supremely stylish Hitchcockian screw-turner. Margot Kidder plays Danielle, a Québécoise model in NYC whose separated Siamese twin, Dominique, is suspected of being a psycho killer. Witness to her carnage is reporter Grace (Jennifer Salt), unfriendly with authorities over a string of scathing police exposés. When her account of a murder, seen committed in Danielle’s apartment, is ruled a hoax by cops unable to find a body, Grace must follow the bloody breadcrumbs herself to uncover the twisted truth. A return to indie freedom after big-studio bomb Get to Know Your Rabbit, De Palma’s slick, sibling slasher flick brims with directorial bravado—split-screen effects, film-gauge swaps, perverse POV shifts—and overt homages to voyeur-movie benchmarks Peeping Tom, Rear Window, and Psycho. The nerve-shredding score is by Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann.

“You’re in the hands of a master from the very first frame … Sisters feels thrillingly modern, and shaped with a sense of confidence that is simply awe-inspiring.”

Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist