Sisters (1972)

IMDb plot summary: A small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers.

Directed by Brian De Palma. Starring Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, and Charles Durning.

Sisters is a Brian De Palma movie about a woman whose one-night stand appears to be murdered by her mysterious twin sister. When a journalist across the way sees the murder victim, she sets out to figure out what happened, and things get real weird. The more I watch of De Palma, the more I realize how often he gels with me. Where so many 1970s films latch onto that sort of gritty, gross cinematography in a way that feels depressing, De Palma's work seems to be taking great joy in its scuzziness, leaning into the camp and ugliness with a sense of glee. This story, like so many of his others, feels wildly improbable but is just delightful to watch play out. His use of split-screen here is very effective in ramping up tension, as we're able to see how close our villain is to hiding the body as the police simultaneously approach their door. (It's so effective, in fact, I'm a little surprised we don't see that more often in horror!) The plot of this doesn't make a lot of sense but I just had so much fun with the style I have to recommend it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Sisters > Duel

Sisters > La La Land

Sisters < The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Sisters < Colossal

Sisters < Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Sisters > 2001: A Space Odyssey

Sisters < Cyrano (2021)

Sisters > Nebraska

Sisters > American Dreamz

Sisters > Twins

Sisters > The Tale of Princess Kaguuya

Final spot: #821 out of 3620, or 77%.