13 Nights of Shocktober: Sisters (1972)

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 2: Thriller Night

“I saw a murder, and I'm going to prove it.”

Sisters (1972)

Brian De Palma’s Sisters is a murder mystery that has enough suspense and violence to firmly qualify it as a horror film. The plot is heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Psycho, which is no surprise since De Palma is so heavily influenced by Hitchcock. He even hired Bernard Herrmann, the composer of numerous Hitchcock films, to create the score for Sisters. However, De Palma's own artistic flair makes this movie feel like a new version of a familiar story. 

The film begins with Margot Kidder as Dannielle, a French Canadian model, on a date with a man she met through a game show. Their pleasant night together comes to a gruesome end when Danielle’s psychotic sister, Dominique (also Kidder), brutally murders the man. Danielle’s ex-husband, Dr. Breton (William Finley), helps cover up the crime, but a reporter, Grace (Jennifer Salt), witnesses them from her apartment across the street.

Like Psycho, this is a film in two parts with the second part being an investigation of the first. Grace tells the police what she witnessed, but since she previously investigated police abuses of power they are not willing to believe or help her. She turns to a private detective, played by Charles Durning, to help her investigate. Her mother, played by Mary Davenport, also helps and has some memorable moments. There are more than a few twists and turns to the plot, which, if you’ve seen some Hitchcock movies, you’ll see coming from a mile away. We may know what Grace’s investigation will turn up, but Sisters is well crafted and well-acted enough to still be thrilling and suspenseful as the pieces come together. 

The violence in this movie is sparse but sudden and bloody when it happens. Instead of relying only on shock value, De Palma creates suspense whenever and however he can. He employs split screen several times to intensify dramatic tension. The best use of split screen comes when on one side of the screen we see Grace trying to get the police to believe her about the murder as the detectives slowly make their way to the crime scene while on the other side of the screen we see the murder being cleaned up. There is one creepy sequence in which Grace finds herself paralyzed by the nefarious Dr. Benton. The scene is shot from Grace’s point of view with a close up on Dr. Benton’s face as she is hypnotized.

Sisters was released through AIP (American International Pictures) which distributed many, many low budget exploitation films, including the work of the legendary producer-director Roger Corman. This certainly feels like an exploitation picture, but the style and skills on display make it feel a step above other exploitation films. This is a great example of how the ideas and techniques of the “New Hollywood” of the late 60’s/early 70’s also helped change the horror genre. The murder mystery angle combined with the macabre twists make this a great film for any horror fan, or even the horror hesitant viewer, to watch on any Shocktober day or night.