MovieChat Forums > Paul Verhoeven Discussion > Verhoeven VS De Palma

Verhoeven VS De Palma


I just thought I'd compare the two. I think Verhoeven is better. Two of his films that I'd like to use as examples are The Fourth Man and Basic Instinct. I found those films thrilling and suspenseful. Very steamy too. Verhoeven had homages to Hitchcock in Basic Instinct, but Verhoeven is more original than De Palma.

I also don't like the way De Palma films love scenes in his movies. I find them very sleazy. I found his love scenes particularly sleazy in; Dressed to kill, Body Double, Femme Fatale, and The Black Dahlia. De Palma was quoted saying, "So much of shooting sex scenes in movies you a see are naked people sort of humping each other on a bed, shot in the most unflattering way just because they happen to be naked and mimicking making love. They don't really dramatize their particular sexual attraction to each other. And it's very difficult. You have to find a way, a visual way to approach scenes like that."

He does in his movies exactly what he's referring to in the quote above. He says things like, "They don't really dramatize their particular sexual attraction to each other." Isn't that where he fails? In my opinion, I think it is. He could learn a thing or two from Paul Verhoeven. In his films like; The Fourth Man and Basic Instinct, he knew what he was doing. There was one sleazy love scene in Basic Instinct between Michael Douglas and Jeanne Tripplehorn (I think it was supposed to be). But all of De Palma's love scenes are like that. Verhoeven shoots the scenes better and choreographs them better. I think Verhoevens love scenes are hot, sexy, steamy, interesting, and beautifully shot. He succeeds where De Palma fails. De Palma's are sleazy and sometimes just plain boring.

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De Palma's highs are more consistent, Obsession, Dressed to Kill, Carrie, Blow-Out, while Verhoeven's two highs, The Fourth Man, and Soldier of Orange are much higher.

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Both are Hitchcock's desciples. I think De Palma intentionally made sleazy movies that could visually pass as Hitchcock's, and he often succeeded at least in what I saw, the early stuff. And Verhoeven makes naturalistic movies where the story is the main driving force. Although if someone told me Basic Instinct was De Palma's film, I'd believe that, it was almost a Vertigo with different story.

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Interestingly enough, if you've ever seen the Paul Verhoeven episode of The Hitchhiker, it's practically a riff on Body Double.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0602161/

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They're kind of similar, yes. But that's the furthest Paul ever got into De Palma territory.

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Two legends. Very hard to pick a favorite. Both are dead certs in my top 10 directors list.

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de palma is more skilled with camera.

verhoeven very talent with sci-fi storys.

both are guilty of too much excess and crueltys in there film.

overall i prefer de palmas. his film are very enjoy to watch.

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