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The De Palma Decade: Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
Journey with award-winning documentarian and author Laurent Bouzereau through acclaimed director Brian De Palma’s renowned—and controversial—horror and thriller films that redefined cinema in the 1970s and early 80s with new interviews and fresh takes. Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola in the 70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few small comedies under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language, melding his signature themes with specific filmmaking techniques that are now synonymous with his name. Drawing from his lifelong love of De Palma, years of research, and new interviews, acclaimed documentarian Laurent Bouzereau explores the seven films that came to define The De Palma Decade—Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out. He combines film analysis, detailed history of the films’ productions, and interviews with De Palma himself, his casts, and collaborators to present the definitive record on this unrivaled period of cinematic creativity and the emergence of an auteur who would continue to influence filmmaking in the decades that followed.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published September 3, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 18, 2025
3.5 stars
"After the success of 'Carrie,' the best offer I had was 'The Fury' through [20th Century Fox producer] Frank Yablans . . . Did I want to make another telepathic horror movie? Not particularly. But then Frank said 'We got [the respected actors] Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes.' Then I thought, 'Well, let's do this.'" -- the easily-swayed director Brian De Palma, on page 168
French writer / documentarian Bouzereau takes look at ten years' worth of horror / suspense films from the 70's and early 80's oeuvre of America director Brian De Palma - or, as MAD Magazine once called him, 'Brian De Trauma' 😂 - with the aptly-titled The De Palma Decade. Although sort of annoyingly it does not run in chronological order for no good reason, the chapters are structured in the oral history style, and each focus on a particular film from Sisters up to the underrated Blow Out. It worked best when cast members and/or production staff would offer trivia and their recollections, although actor John Travolta's input was missed with his roles in two of the films. (Was he too busy mangling his Oscar ceremony introduction of Idina Menzel to sit for an interview?) Also, some of the sections on the lesser known flicks were a little too long-winded in the latter half - Phantom of the Paradise, although admittedly unseen by me, sounds like the dumbest movie ever - and would be of interest to only the most die-hard of fans. However, the book provided one of the best laughs I had in awhile with the reveal that some studio execs - no doubt showing why they deservedly earn those multi-million dollar salaries (*cough cough*) - had pushed for one of the mid-70's films (which had a plot that concluded on a completely tragic note) to feature a song over the end credits by either Travolta OR the then-newly rejuvenated Bee Gees. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
"After the success of 'Carrie,' the best offer I had was 'The Fury' through [20th Century Fox producer] Frank Yablans . . . Did I want to make another telepathic horror movie? Not particularly. But then Frank said 'We got [the respected actors] Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes.' Then I thought, 'Well, let's do this.'" -- the easily-swayed director Brian De Palma, on page 168
French writer / documentarian Bouzereau takes look at ten years' worth of horror / suspense films from the 70's and early 80's oeuvre of America director Brian De Palma - or, as MAD Magazine once called him, 'Brian De Trauma' 😂 - with the aptly-titled The De Palma Decade. Although sort of annoyingly it does not run in chronological order for no good reason, the chapters are structured in the oral history style, and each focus on a particular film from Sisters up to the underrated Blow Out. It worked best when cast members and/or production staff would offer trivia and their recollections, although actor John Travolta's input was missed with his roles in two of the films. (Was he too busy mangling his Oscar ceremony introduction of Idina Menzel to sit for an interview?) Also, some of the sections on the lesser known flicks were a little too long-winded in the latter half - Phantom of the Paradise, although admittedly unseen by me, sounds like the dumbest movie ever - and would be of interest to only the most die-hard of fans. However, the book provided one of the best laughs I had in awhile with the reveal that some studio execs - no doubt showing why they deservedly earn those multi-million dollar salaries (*cough cough*) - had pushed for one of the mid-70's films (which had a plot that concluded on a completely tragic note) to feature a song over the end credits by either Travolta OR the then-newly rejuvenated Bee Gees. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
February 25, 2025
Some of the most inane film analysis I’ve ever read. Very poorly written. Thankfully, the interviews included are mildly entertaining (if not particularly insightful). De Palma is a major artist for me, so this was disappointing.
Read
October 6, 2024''Cinema Speculation'' literally wishes it was as astute, insightful, and tastefully accomplished as this.
A terrific book that balances being both an entertaining oral history and an intelligently argued resource of artistic criticism (which does better at explaining why hardcore De Palma sluts like me don't ever shut up about how much we love his work more than anything else I've yet encountered).
A terrific book that balances being both an entertaining oral history and an intelligently argued resource of artistic criticism (which does better at explaining why hardcore De Palma sluts like me don't ever shut up about how much we love his work more than anything else I've yet encountered).
August 21, 2025
I used to take Brian De Palma at face value, and for years, having only seen Scarface, The Untouchables, and Carlito’s Way, I considered him massively overrated, failing to see how his films borrowed from and commented on earlier directors’ works while imbuing them with his own unique style. Something clicked for me a few years ago when I saw Blow Out, truly one of the best movies of all time, and it led me to dive deeper into his catalogue, not only revisiting the ones I had already seen but discovering his incredible 1970s run, which serves as the subject of this book. Nowadays I consider De Palma to be one of my favorite living directors - if his films hadn’t fallen off a cliff after the 90s, I would probably consider him my favorite living director - and arguably the greatest visual storyteller since the silent era.
As a huge fan, The De Palma Decade is essentially perfect for me, and I did enjoy it quite a bit. The oral history sections, comprised of interviews with De Palma as well as his stars and frequent collaborators, are fantastic, insightful, and breezy; let it be known that I am a total slut for oral histories. However, the rest of the book is… I want to say a mixed bag, but it’s really just a bag full of shit, so not really mixed, per se.
The first major issue is the chronology. Each chapter focuses on another film, but instead of sequencing them in the order that the films were released, Bouzereau states that he finds that approach too predictable and opts to group the films by theme. Okay, fine, but the problem is that all of De Palma’s work in this period focuses on roughly the same few major themes, so the distinctions feel arbitrary. Why is Sisters grouped in the section about split personalities and doubles, but Obsession isn’t, despite featuring a single actress playing 3 separate characters throughout the course of the film? Is POWER really a worthwhile theme to distinguish Carrie? Or, at least, is it worthwhile enough to justify placing the films out of sequence and disrupting the natural flow of progression and repeated collaborations that would have become more evident had they been sequenced chronologically?
The second, and bigger, issue is that Bouzereau cannot fucking write or analyze film to save his life. It is clear that he adores De Palma’s work, and I appreciate the book as a labor of love for a director who does not have a wealth of literature available about him at present, but this author is not the guy to interpret this particular director’s work. At one point he goes on a tangent about how Carrie can be viewed as a queer narrative despite that clearly not being its intent, and having never been mentioned by De Palma or any of the additional writers, cast, and crew of the film, who are all interviewed here. He also brings extremely basic observations to most other films, saying things like “a major theme of x movie is violence”, to which I reply, like, no shit, man, duh. It is unfortunately clear that he is not a native English speaker or writer based on his very limited vocabulary here, and that might be a harsh judgment, but if he was an English speaker it would be an even harsher one, as I would just say he absolutely stinks when it comes to writing. It is such a shame that some quality interviews and a worthwhile subject are not given a better author to chronicle them, but hey, I’ll take any De Palma book I can get.
Which is basically the long and short of it: if you love De Palma, this is worth reading because it will make you love him even more. If you aren’t already a diehard, watch the movies before you pick this one up.
As a huge fan, The De Palma Decade is essentially perfect for me, and I did enjoy it quite a bit. The oral history sections, comprised of interviews with De Palma as well as his stars and frequent collaborators, are fantastic, insightful, and breezy; let it be known that I am a total slut for oral histories. However, the rest of the book is… I want to say a mixed bag, but it’s really just a bag full of shit, so not really mixed, per se.
The first major issue is the chronology. Each chapter focuses on another film, but instead of sequencing them in the order that the films were released, Bouzereau states that he finds that approach too predictable and opts to group the films by theme. Okay, fine, but the problem is that all of De Palma’s work in this period focuses on roughly the same few major themes, so the distinctions feel arbitrary. Why is Sisters grouped in the section about split personalities and doubles, but Obsession isn’t, despite featuring a single actress playing 3 separate characters throughout the course of the film? Is POWER really a worthwhile theme to distinguish Carrie? Or, at least, is it worthwhile enough to justify placing the films out of sequence and disrupting the natural flow of progression and repeated collaborations that would have become more evident had they been sequenced chronologically?
The second, and bigger, issue is that Bouzereau cannot fucking write or analyze film to save his life. It is clear that he adores De Palma’s work, and I appreciate the book as a labor of love for a director who does not have a wealth of literature available about him at present, but this author is not the guy to interpret this particular director’s work. At one point he goes on a tangent about how Carrie can be viewed as a queer narrative despite that clearly not being its intent, and having never been mentioned by De Palma or any of the additional writers, cast, and crew of the film, who are all interviewed here. He also brings extremely basic observations to most other films, saying things like “a major theme of x movie is violence”, to which I reply, like, no shit, man, duh. It is unfortunately clear that he is not a native English speaker or writer based on his very limited vocabulary here, and that might be a harsh judgment, but if he was an English speaker it would be an even harsher one, as I would just say he absolutely stinks when it comes to writing. It is such a shame that some quality interviews and a worthwhile subject are not given a better author to chronicle them, but hey, I’ll take any De Palma book I can get.
Which is basically the long and short of it: if you love De Palma, this is worth reading because it will make you love him even more. If you aren’t already a diehard, watch the movies before you pick this one up.
May 12, 2025
Listened to this on Spotify, and - while there wasn't a ton that was new to me, necessarily - it's also just nice to see De Palma getting his due. Hope there's another one on the way about his subsequent filmography, which is maybe less uniformly celebrated but all the more interesting as a result.
September 10, 2024
Compulsively readable journey through DePalma's defining decade of filmmaking. Bouzereau's prose and analysis is somewhat workmanlike, but his interviews (as befits his status as a legendary behind-the-scenes documentarian) are fantastic and full of fresh insight.
Read
March 21, 2025Less analysis than I might’ve hoped for with something like this, but still a fun introduction for a De Palma initiate like me, and I enjoyed watching through the movies as I read. My favorites were Sisters, Carrie, and Blow Out, with an honorable mention for Obsession
October 12, 2024
The discussions about the films covered here are generally quite good, and in the case of Carrie, excellent. But the author is just such a Brian De Palma enthusiast that the book comes across as fan appreciation instead of genuine critical study. The subject of discussion here has had the kind of career that is worth a full examination. This book isn't it.
February 27, 2025
Nice oral history but Bouzereau barely comments or writes about the films. A lot of stuff I already knew, lovely looking book though.
May 4, 2025
I'm a lifelong De Palma fan -- although I don't love the word fan because it can describe someone who is defensive or in denial about the flaws of the work of people they love. I think some of De Palma's films are some of the best adult thrillers any American director has ever made (and that includes Hitchcock, who De Palma has been measured against for years in ways that have often been counterproductive to the legacies of both filmmakers).
Laurent Bouzereau has written a unique book. It's not something everyone will love without reservation. It combines analysis of film technique and critical theory with cast and crew input, along with a good amount of personal reflection from the author. Bouzereau has shared his own personal journey with De Palma's work over the course of his adult life along with his perspective on a specific period of De Palma's films (arguably, his most exciting one -- the 1970's and very early '80s). For someone looking for a neutral historical overview or an academic analysis of this director -- this may be a jarring approach. But it's a singular one that helps to convey why someone may be drawn to De Palma's worldview and his approach to the thriller genre. I've read plenty of analytical material about the work of major directors -- but I've never read something quite like this before. It's very engaging.
There is, of course, a fair amount of reflection from some very well-known people who have worked with De Palma. Some of the background they give on their experiences making these films has popped up in their past interviews -- but most of it is full of more detail and candor than they've given before. It's fun to read.
De Palma is divisive. He always has been. He most likely always will be. And this book won't please everyone. But as someone who appreciates a fresh approach to writing about this fascinating period of American filmmaking -- I was delighted.
Laurent Bouzereau has written a unique book. It's not something everyone will love without reservation. It combines analysis of film technique and critical theory with cast and crew input, along with a good amount of personal reflection from the author. Bouzereau has shared his own personal journey with De Palma's work over the course of his adult life along with his perspective on a specific period of De Palma's films (arguably, his most exciting one -- the 1970's and very early '80s). For someone looking for a neutral historical overview or an academic analysis of this director -- this may be a jarring approach. But it's a singular one that helps to convey why someone may be drawn to De Palma's worldview and his approach to the thriller genre. I've read plenty of analytical material about the work of major directors -- but I've never read something quite like this before. It's very engaging.
There is, of course, a fair amount of reflection from some very well-known people who have worked with De Palma. Some of the background they give on their experiences making these films has popped up in their past interviews -- but most of it is full of more detail and candor than they've given before. It's fun to read.
De Palma is divisive. He always has been. He most likely always will be. And this book won't please everyone. But as someone who appreciates a fresh approach to writing about this fascinating period of American filmmaking -- I was delighted.
July 28, 2025
Amateurish, obsequiously fawning treatment of one of my favorite directors. I love the man, but from Bouzereau’s point of view, everything he’s ever done is “masterful”, “glorious”, “pure magic”, as though it’s impossible for him to make a mistep, going as far to call critics such as Pauline Kael (another favorite of mine) objectively wrong when quoting their relatively fair critiques.
It doesn’t help that the writing is just awful on a sentence level, and badly needed more copyediting — the author is French and you can tell in the way that his phrasing always sounds slightly off. I’ve been spoiled by good film writing, having recently read a seminal work by Carol J. Clover, so it came as a hard shock of quality switch. Can a girl get a good academic study of De Palma (preferably one that covers Body Double)??
I will say that though what I learned in this book, I
have even more respect for him as a director and am pleased that my instincts about his approach to cinema seem to be in line with reality. The Carrie chapter is so fascinating, if not only because it is the only chapter that is almost exclusively made up of interviews with its collaborators.
It doesn’t help that the writing is just awful on a sentence level, and badly needed more copyediting — the author is French and you can tell in the way that his phrasing always sounds slightly off. I’ve been spoiled by good film writing, having recently read a seminal work by Carol J. Clover, so it came as a hard shock of quality switch. Can a girl get a good academic study of De Palma (preferably one that covers Body Double)??
I will say that though what I learned in this book, I
have even more respect for him as a director and am pleased that my instincts about his approach to cinema seem to be in line with reality. The Carrie chapter is so fascinating, if not only because it is the only chapter that is almost exclusively made up of interviews with its collaborators.
October 6, 2024
I'll give the book two stars for the cover and good pics...Otherwise, one can hardly call this a book...and hardly anything definitive regarding De Palma...It's called The De Palma Decade and for some reason it's NOT done chronologically...fine...If you want anecdotes from actors and production folk, this is the book for you...if you want good scholarship, this is not your book. At 300 pages, I read this book in 2 hours. Come on...Try harder authors. There's an art to writing, just like movies! Should have been a coffee table book.
September 26, 2024
It should be noted that...
A: This books covers De Palma's films "Sisters" through "Blow Out."
and
B: If you have not seen any of the movies, you should avoid their chapters if you don't want to encounter massive spoilers.
This is a great in-depth look at a 10-year stretch of De Palma films that are iconic. If you love these movies, you'll get lots of great info on them. If you haven't seen some of these movies, you'll want to.
Enjoy!
A: This books covers De Palma's films "Sisters" through "Blow Out."
and
B: If you have not seen any of the movies, you should avoid their chapters if you don't want to encounter massive spoilers.
This is a great in-depth look at a 10-year stretch of De Palma films that are iconic. If you love these movies, you'll get lots of great info on them. If you haven't seen some of these movies, you'll want to.
Enjoy!
May 12, 2025
This book on Brian De Palma is the best I’ve ever read! It covers all of my favorite De Palma films, from SISTERS through BLOW OUT. The author, Laurent Bouzereau, has been an authority on this subject ever since his first book, THE DE PALMA CUT, published in the 1980s. He understands these movies inside and out — and offers fascinating thematic insights as well as behind-the-scenes “making of” revelations that will blow your mind! It certainly did mine. Not to be missed! Bravo!
December 17, 2024
De Palma is one of my heroes and Bouzereau is one of the great documentarians so this was the perfect combo of author and subject. A real treat. The discoveries in this are anecdotal but that’s all I was hoping for. I greedily want the next decade covered but until then, this is essential text for any De Palma fan.
December 19, 2024
I'm not a particular fan of De Palma's films, and the structure of this book isn't what I'd call intuitive or comfortingly chronological...but there are a number of entries that did fascinate me, particularly the chapter on "Carrie". For fans of the filmmaker, this will definitely be an enjoyable experience.
December 31, 2024
Mediocre director's monograph, with very little new specs. Much Entertainment journalist Nat Segaloff's commemorative nostalgia-faps, a lot of previously published content repackaged and, only slightly, refreshed.
D N F
May 12, 2025
To cover these ten crucial years of Brian De Palma's career in such an accessible but authoritative voice is so impressive. Bouzereau mixes archival and new interviews with a galaxy of collaborators alongside his own clever analysis and makes something that is fact-dense but a breezy read. One of my favorite film books of recent years.
September 6, 2025
This book offers a fascinating exploration of Brian De Palma’s most significant films and moments in his career. Through interviews with those who have been close to De Palma throughout his life, we gain a glimpse into his genius. Bouzereau’s engaging and inspiring narrative takes us on a journey through De Palma’s life.
December 23, 2024
Fascinating dive into the world of Brian De Palma movies with lots of interesting anecdotes and behind the scenes stories from the stars of these pictures and of course from the Master of Macabre himself.
January 8, 2025
This book doesn’t really have an angle aside from describing the plot of DePalma movies and adding some interview snippets. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Cassavetes did “The Fury” for a check and was a dick on set.
January 11, 2025
Fun for De Palma fans but the somewhat random non-chronological priority of the film’s chosen and the kind of pedestrian analysis gets in the way of interesting historical tidbits for those who aren’t already sold.
October 3, 2024
Really good! I learned so much about movies I really love. All the interviews are great and now I just really wanna rewatch BLOW OUT.
October 12, 2024
3.5 stars.
November 9, 2024
Great piece of oral history and film criticism about one of the all-time geniuses of film.
January 28, 2025
3.5 stars
February 26, 2025
3.5 Rounded up
May 8, 2025
You know, this De Palma fellow makes some pretty good fuckin' movies.
May 15, 2025
it's great if you like summaries of movies you've seen already
June 25, 2025
Introduced me to Sisters and Obsession. That makes is pretty great in my book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews