Body Double (1984): Makes You Hot, Doesn't It? | Part One (American Giallo)

In this episode of Morally Offensive, Bill and Jess are joined by former co-host Cisco Scartozzi to take on Brian De Palma’s Body Double (1984), a voyeuristic erotic reimagining of Vertigo packed with Hitchcock references, murder, sex, bright red blood, and some of De Palma’s most controversial ideas about the male gaze, desire, and women.

We read the Catholic condemned review of Body Double and dig into De Palma’s career, his obsession with Hitchcock, and the ongoing debate over his treatment and sexualization of violence against women. Jess is firmly anti-De Palma, with Carrie as the notable exception. Cisco comes ready to defend De Palma, while Bill plays referee in a heated debate about the nature of sex and violence onscreen.

We also discuss De Palma putting his foot in his mouth during interviews, Jake Scully getting cucked, the cinematic legacy of driller killers, LA's famed Chemosphere house, Hitchcock's bounced check movie "Under Capricorn", and, naturally, putting onions on hot dogs. With three hosts in one room, it's a sweatbox of an episode, where the crew heatedly debates the merits of DePalma's desire to push the mainstream erotic thriller as far as the ratings board would let it.