Murder à la Mod (1968)

Brian De Palma's debut feature, *Murder à la Mod*, is a dizzying, experimental thriller that immediately establishes his thematic interests. Naive young lady Karen wants to help her struggling amateur filmmaker boyfriend, Christopher, raise enough money so he can divorce his wife. Meanwhile, the jolly psycho prankster Otto stalks the building where Christopher is shooting a low-grade adult movie in order to keep himself afloat. When a gruesome murder occurs, the film fractures its narrative, employing a *Rashomon*-style structure to retell the crime from three distinct and unreliable perspectives: that of the victim, the killer, and a mute observer, creating a disorienting and suspenseful puzzle box. While it lacks the polish of his later masterpieces, *Murder à la Mod* is a crucial entry on any "Best of" list because it serves as a Rosetta Stone for his entire filmography. It is here, in raw, unrefined form, that De Palma first experiments with the obsessions that would define his career: voyeurism, Hitchcockian suspense (complete with an ice pick murder), fractured narratives, and a morbid fascination with the mechanics of filmmaking itself. The non-linear, multi-perspective storytelling prefigures the complex structures of *Blow Out* and *Snake Eyes*, and the film's darkly comedic tone showcases a director already eager to play with audience expectations. It's a bold and essential artifact, offering an indispensable look at the birth of a master's unique cinematic language.