The film is highly regarded for its visual craftsmanship and "pure cinema" approach:

: De Palma conceived the idea in 1979, drawing from various sources: a real-life memory of museum social interactions, his own high school experience building computers, and the medical concept of gender transition.

: The film is famously a "remix" of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho . Most notably, it kills off its primary star, Angie Dickinson, early in the film to shatter audience expectations. Key Cast : Michael Caine as Dr. Robert Elliott, the psychiatrist.

Brian De Palma's (1980) is an erotic psychological thriller that remains one of the most celebrated and controversial entries in the "Hitchcockian" genre. It follows a New York psychiatrist whose patient is brutally murdered by a mysterious blonde woman, leading a high-priced call girl and the victim's son to team up to find the killer. Production and Creative Origins

as Kate Miller, a sexually frustrated housewife.