Two movies about unmasking a criminal, frank sexuality, and a very dedicated son — it's Dressed To Kill vs. Held Hostage In My House.
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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two movies about unmasking a criminal, frank sexuality, and a very dedicated son. It's Dressed to Kill versus Held Hostage in My House. You know what doesn't get enough credit? Lifetime movies. And that's what we're getting into today.
Dressed To Kill
A mysterious blonde woman kills one of the patients of a psychiatrist and then goes after the high-class hooker who witnessed the murder.
This movie came out in 1980. It has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a Brian De Palma movie, and Brian De Palma is just cool. All of his movies aren't for me, but I appreciate what he's doing. My favorite of his is one of his newer-ish films Passion, which I've covered on Tasteless. He of course directed Carrie, Blow Out, Carlito's Way, Body Double, Scarface — on and on. He has a distinct and very impressive resume.
Now, does he understand women? He depicts them good and bad, and I think his depictions are interesting, but he definitely paints in broad brushstrokes. Not always a bad thing. Nancy Allen in this film does really well with the ditzy but cool role she has as a sex worker who witnesses a murder. The briefer screen time of Angie Dickinson is completely compelling. And De Palma has his signature moves — there is split diopter out the wazoo on Dressed to Kill.
Angie Dickinson kicks off this film basically fully naked. She's hanging out. She's having a great time. Sex dreams. She's going to the museum. She's making a shopping list where she has items like eggnog and nuts. Very balanced diet at her household. Sounds like my fridge, honestly. This family is malnourished. She goes on to cheat on her husband with a man who waves a white glove at her, which I think is very rude. The glove-waving, not the cheating. Although I guess cheating is kind of one of the rudest things you can do.
Nancy Allen was married to Brian De Palma at the time, so he wrote the role for her. She's kind of a dummy. At one point she says, I wouldn't know sodium from Adam. Well, okay, you knew enough to make that little quip, Nancy. She gets embroiled in a big old mess because she witnesses the person who has just killed Angie Dickinson in an elevator — a blonde woman with big sunglasses and a razor. She is really slow to react to this dying woman, but then someone else pops their head out of the apartment down the way and thinks she's done something bad. Then Nancy's very, very ready to run. Oh, somebody's dead. Oh, I might be in trouble. I gotta get out of here. I get it.
She's on the phone in this movie trying to move money around, buying shares. Very finance bro. She'd be in on the whole GameStop thing if the character was around today. Good head on her shoulders, savvy, even if she talks down her own intelligence.
It's a really cool pairing that she teams up with Angie Dickinson's son in the film, Peter, played by Keith Gordon. He's building his own computer thing at home, totally geeky, but he loves his mom so much. When she's killed he sets out to figure out who did it. The two of them mostly deal with a police detective played by Dennis Franz and Angie Dickinson's psychiatrist played by Michael Caine.
I love this piece of trivia about Michael Caine, because I think of him as such a good guy — mostly because I've seen Miss Congeniality 100 times. IMDB trivia shares that Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon all praise Michael Caine's generosity and professionalism on this film. As the main star, he was only ever required to be on set when his character was in shot, but all three stated he insisted on also being there when his character was not in shot, so his co-stars were always performing to his character, not to a stand-in or nothing at all.
That is really rare. When they're shooting a film and getting one angle of coverage, they can just be showing Nancy Allen's face — no one has to actually be on the other side. But it can only help for there to be a human being you're reacting off of. Think of when Ian McKellen was crying on the set of Lord of the Rings because he was stuck with just green balls on sticks. Acting can be such a collaborative thing and should be. I really respect that Michael Caine was there and not just sitting in his trailer.
And spoilers for Dressed to Kill from 1980. Michael Caine is playing a dual role here — Dr. Elliott the psychiatrist, constantly being hit on at work, and also Bobbi, the blonde killer who murders his patients. The film kind of conflates dissociative identity disorder with being trans. It's not necessarily that Michael Caine's Dr. Elliott character wishes to be Bobbi, but that these two pieces are at war inside of him — with Bobbi becoming enraged by the reminder of Dr. Elliott's masculinity whenever he gets aroused. Unfortunately a ton of his hot female patients hit on him and then Bobbi has to murder them.
I do think this idea of his uncontrollable male side disgusting this female side that doesn't feel seen or represented — it's interesting. But it's conflating a lot of different things. The movie plays it both ways. It's complicated. I could see being frustrated by it. But it really feels more like a Split with James McAvoy type situation than anything else. Dressed to Kill is an interesting watch, a great De Palma representation of what he does really well. It's currently streaming on Prime Video.
Held Hostage In My House
A single mother becomes trapped inside her own vacation rental and must piece together clues from the various guests who have stayed there in order to figure out who assaulted her and hopefully survive.
This came out in 2024. It has no Rotten Tomatoes score.
You know me. You know if there is a new Anna Elizabeth James joint, I will be seated. Writer, director — I love how she approaches filmmaking. There is an ethereal quality to her movies, a lightness even amongst decay and ruin. She presents a very female gaze that is unlike most of what you find in cinema, especially in the thriller genre. A genre that as much as there are strong women in it, is really lacking women behind the camera. So I'm glad that's a genre she works within.
This Lifetime film, a Lifetime crossover, is perfect to introduce her brilliance to the masses — because a Lifetime movie is made in its big strokes, and Anna nails the big moments while providing tons of subtler pieces to keep a maybe more nuanced or intense film fan engaged.
Her movie Deadly Illusions, which I am notably obsessed with, continues to be served to me in the thriller section of Netflix. I love that her work remains so relevant. I talked in my Black Swan versus Deadly Illusions episode about how important the feeling of a film can be and how Anna's films just have this overall vibe that sucks you in. Held Hostage in My House is no exception.
This is also the first Airbnb movie I've seen besides maybe Barbarian, which is such a great piece of current culture to tap into for horror. Such an uncontrolled thing that so many people turn to for leisure or for income. Held Hostage in My House is basically the worst Airbnb experience ever. And also maybe will make you less mad about those cleaning fees, knowing about all the ants and pie and threesomes the homeowners have to clean up after. Okay, I'm not pro-landlord. But it's a fun new world to explore on film.
The cast is wonderful. Really solid actors in new sorts of roles — I don't think anyone was really playing to type. Amy Smart is our lead. She's this incredibly thoughtful, empathetic, but also realistic mom dealing with a divorce, shared custody of her beloved son, and changes in her lifestyle as a single woman. She's renting out a home she inherited as a gorgeous Airbnb and she loves it — loves connecting with people from all over the world, providing this haven for them. The house is gorgeous. I love all the locations of this film.
Her son Charlie, played by Harrison Fox, is just a good kid who loves his mom. He heads off to spend time with his dad, Matthew Davis — who I adore, Vampire Diaries, Legally Blonde. He's so good at this sort of... in this film he's a skeez, but in this realistic way that's even more maddening because he just doesn't take Amy seriously. He's disrespectful in this very toxic-masculinity-but-quiet way that is so prevalent, but if you complain about it you look crazy.
And most excitingly — he's starting a new life with his new girlfriend played by Greer Grammer. This is now Greer's third time at least working with Anna Elizabeth James. She was the lead antagonist of Deadly Illusions, and the more I revisit that film the more impressed I am by the villainous role she took on. She's just so good on screen, so watchable.
By the way, she loves walking in on a woman taking a bath — between Deadly Illusions and Held Hostage in My House. If I ever see another Greer Grammer film where she doesn't bust in on a relaxing soak, I'm going to riot. Just like how Tom Cruise has to run in all of his films, Greer, you better bust in on that bath. No one can relax when she's around.
Amy Smart is accosted — I'm still laughing thinking about the tub — she's hit over the head, tied to her bed in the rental, à la Gerald's Game. Only instead of her gross dead husband, she's haunted by the memories of people who have recently stayed at the home as she tries to tease out who might have done this to her. So many people have crossed the threshold and her life is so tumultuous that she's remembering all these interactions, innocent or not, with suspicion.
Our suspects include Billy Zane as this airy, metrosexual type who honestly gave me very Michael Caine vibes in his delivery. He has a little scarf, he's so warm and open, but also — what's he got going on? Airbnb threesomes, for one, which he politely invites Amy to, and she just as politely declines. I love how casual this film is about sex. She's not like, oh my God, scandalous! She's just like, no, but here's where the Wi-Fi router is, and thanks so much, have fun.
Billy Zane is like if a bunny became a human man. There's something whimsical about his performances.
Amy Smart really anchors the film with this breezy but realistic sensibility. She plays a mom who seems like she could be a mom but who isn't hung up on our media stereotypes of moms. She at one point has the phone on speaker and is yelling into it, which is actually how people talk on speakerphone. I respect those little touches.
Ne-Yo is an art professor jealous of Amy's art skills — Amy's this talented artist in the film. Another very cool touch: they use real art. All of her character's art was actually painted by a woman named Valentina Sarfeh, who is credited immediately following the film. Love that. Ne-Yo is on our suspect list because he'd love to claim her art for his own. I find this thread interesting because I imagine it would be really difficult to be a teacher of something like art and have people come through your classroom with more talent than you. I couldn't handle that. 100%, I couldn't.
Ramona, played by Masha King — what a character. She's a straight-up madame who Amy kind of narcs on. She's definitely providing company from women to men and definitely has reasons to want to screw Amy over. Jason Wesley as Gabriel felt outed by Amy. There's a love interest named Youssef, played by Jay Lee, who is maybe too good to be true — suspicious. Ex-husband Matthew Davis wants to propose to Greer and start a new family and forget Amy ever existed. Greer wants that perfect family. There's the best friend Victoria, played by Ava Gaudet, with a jet-setting lifestyle. The film shows the difference without placing judgment on either woman's choices. That's rare and impressive.
As I said about Anna Elizabeth James, the gaze of her camera is pretty unique. The view of Amy in this film is very much a woman's gaze, and I found this impressive in the new Demi Moore movie The Substance as well — where the female form is seen in a completely different way because it's not being pushed through the filter of a man and male executives. That's something I've come to expect and deeply appreciate in Anna's films.
Held Hostage in My House has this particularly dreamy, escapist feeling, making the viewer question even further what's real and what isn't. Amy's son is desperately trying to get in touch with her as she lays there starving, scared, and some ants are coming way too close because she left some pie out. There's something really upsetting about ants tapped into here. Certain bugs I'm fine with — I love spiders, I love bees — but seeing these ants start to swarm is unnerving. This particularly hit home for me because I probably would leave some pie out and then be tied up and then be killed because of that.
It's on Lifetime. You can watch it free on the Lifetime app. Give it a go.
Shared Themes
Dressed to Kill and Held Hostage in My House are mysteries that wield sexuality to throw the viewer off the scent of the killer.
In Dressed to Kill, our hero Nancy Allen is a sex worker. The cops aren't particularly kind to her and she's not seen as a super credible witness. Angie Dickinson talks frequently about being sexually unsatisfied. The killer is dramatically feminine, with flowing locks and big sunglasses. As we discover, when Michael Caine becomes aroused by a woman it triggers his rage — the killer female part of his identity emerges. It's the sexuality of Angie Dickinson and later Nancy Allen that creates this unease within him. But the film doesn't judge any of these women in the way you'd expect. We're presented their lives matter-of-factly and they're no less capable because of who they sleep with.
Jealousy is always a really good motive for murder, so Angie Dickinson's dalliances and Nancy Allen's line of work have us thinking of a zillion possible killers before we would ever consider the psychiatrist.
Held Hostage in My House features the most chill Airbnb host ever, and she is down with anyone's proclivities. When she narcs on Ramona running a prostitution ring, it's honestly not even out of judgment — it's more like, I don't want to go to jail for what my house is being used for, there are definitely liabilities there. Plus I don't think you can run a business from a home, and this lady was trying to run a full sex business from an Airbnb. There isn't guilt when Amy Smart sleeps with the new guy or shaming of her friend's more fun lifestyle. Everyone is really accepting of themselves, so the motives for her hostage situation are so much more interesting than just sexual jealousy. We've got revenge, we've got shame — there's a lot at play.
Neither of these movies ever really says that in typical slasher fashion, they got killed because they had sex. That's never what happens here.
When I watched Held Hostage in My House, I immediately thought of Dressed to Kill. There's just something about them — watch them together and you'll see why. And then I was really excited when I realized there's this key surprising shared factor: in these films, the characters who are really the moral center, the grounded heroes, are the sons of our main characters. Two momma's boys who just want to get justice for their mothers, who will do anything for her — in a way that's never played as a joke. It's not a Buster on Arrested Development type of thing, but instead a reflection of what wonderful mothers they have, how healthy their relationships are.
In Dressed to Kill, our semi-grown kid Peter, Keith Gordon the computer genius — his mom Angie Dickinson maybe doesn't understand him, but she adores him. She lets him skip a dinner they're going to if he promises to get some sleep, knowing he's dying to work on his little 80s computer setup. She respects his hobbies and wants to learn about what he's doing. When she's killed he doesn't fold in on himself but instead refocuses on finding who did it.
His pairing with Nancy Allen, who has no children of her own and has lived really only for herself for a long time — it's this great odd couple. He's book-smart and she's street-smart and they each have a respect for the other's point of view. This movie is very much about women, about the feminine, about the desire for feminine energy, and his character throws a total wrench in that while also fitting perfectly into the De Palma formula.
Held Hostage in My House has a younger kid. Harrison Fox is the son — he's a little guy who has to put all the skills his mom taught him to use in saving her. He is driven by pure love and he knows something isn't right with his mom and sneaks home in a kid-safe Uber to rescue her. I love how they handled his involvement because it could have been super unbelievable that this kid saved his mom from masked intruders. But he happened to show up at the right moment when chaos had already been sown, and he's there for his mom right when she needs him most.
He is everything to her. Their relationship is clearly a massive component of each of their lives, something they define themselves by. It's sweet to see him repeatedly checking in on her with his dad while also respecting his dad's boundaries of phone usage. He's not overzealous, but when he feels something is wrong, he acts.
His mere existence gives her the strength to survive. If I was tied up near all my loose pie fillings, I would 100% be thinking about my cats and living for them. But they would probably be the ones to find me and then eat me. So it works out better for Amy Smart.
What Held Hostage In My House Does Better
Dressed to Kill, though it is inventive, feels like many other works. Held Hostage in My House feels like something new.
Dressed to Kill is very much a Hitchcockian mystery. It has been criticized for massive similarities to Psycho. That's not a knock — it's done well. De Palma hits the same beats in his films. That also isn't a knock. I like his style. Yeah, we get it, we can see the foreground and the background in one shot, congratulations. If you haven't seen this film, absolutely watch it. I bet if I took a film class teaching it, I would be delighted to dissect it. There's a lot of meat on that bone. It exemplifies this sort of twisted mystery. It's stylish and a blast to put on.
However, I have never seen a movie like Held Hostage in My House. While there are thematic elements across Anna Elizabeth James's body of work, all of her films have their own unique tones. The dreamy quality of this film that I've referenced is hard to pull off. It might not have worked in another film, but it works here. It puts you in mind of this woman being pulled in every direction. From the chronology to the choice of camera angles, this movie is unique.
The representation in Dressed to Kill is not nearly as inclusive as what you see in Held Hostage in My House. I am very impressed that a film on Lifetime was so... what's the positive version of woke?
Dressed to Kill was shocking only in its reveal, not in its actual telling. No one went in knowing it would be about a trans character. It's mostly about murdered white women. Held Hostage in My House has a diverse cast. It deals with taboo subjects and does so without making any of it a big deal — because it isn't.
We have men who are wonderful and men who are evil. We have women who are warm and women who are cold. We have different relationships playing out in ways that might not be the most honest but are authentic to those couples — from the closeted man cheating on his wife, to the guy who has a wife and a girlfriend down to get away at a nice mom's Airbnb, to the newly blended family of Matthew Davis and Greer Grammer. This film shows all kinds of people in all kinds of stages of life. I think it's very cool.
Give these two a watch. Get your double feature going. Then hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media. Let me know what other thrillers you're watching right now. And tell me if you, like me, would leave pie out and then die because of it.
