Erotic Thrillers: Part 4 – Naughty Nineties

by Cláudio Alves

THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (1990) Paul Schrader

The last time we checked on the Criterion Channel's Erotic Thrillers collection, it was to consider the voyeuristic properties of late-80s cinema. Moving on to the next decade, let's get over the nineties in one go. During this era, the erotic thriller reached its apotheosis of influence and trashiness, gradually fading into obsolescence as the millennium approached. It was an epoch of Fatal Attraction copycats and prestige-infused sensuality, a final resurgence of neo-noir aspirations, the rise and fall of Joe Eszterhas, Sharon Stone's stardom, and direct-to-video sleaze. Criterion traces these arcs through eleven titles, spotlighting great cinema and irredeemable garbage with the same gusto…

Click to read more ...

Gay Best Friend: Hedy & Graham in "Single White Female" (1992)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope   

You wanna hear a story about how me and this bitch fell out? It’s kinda long, but it’s full of suspense.Gay Best Friends aren’t often paired with gay panic. Especially in movies made more than 10 years ago, we either were taught to laugh at queer characters, cry for them or fear them. Single White Female asked us to do two of the three. The 1992 thriller didn’t just settle for giving our jilted protagonist, Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda), a supportive gay best friend (Graham, played by Peter Friedman). They also paired her with a roommate nursing a lesbian crush on Allie and refining her murderous skills (Hedra Carlson, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Broad doesn’t begin to describe the movie. While it swings for the fences with its queer characterizations, a large degree of camp shines through. This makes for a pleasurable “turn-your-brain-off” wild thrill ride...

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: A Lavender Couple, Single White Female, and More...

10 random things that happened on this day in history as it relates to showbiz (Aug 14th)

1040 King Duncan is killed in battle by an army led by his cousin Macbeth, which will all later be rewritten by William Shakespeare as altogethier plottier and magically damning. Macbeth hasn't been transferred to cinema as much of some other Shakespearean tragedies which is TOTALLY fine because no one will ever top Kurosawa's Throne of Blood anyway.

1851 Outlaw Doc Holliday born in Georgia. The gambler / dentist / gunfighter / tuberculosis-victim has made for quite a scenery-chewing role for famous actors over the years, including Cesar Romero, Walter Huston, Kirk Douglas, Arhtur Kennedy, Adam West, Martin Landau, Jason Robards, Stacy Keach, Willie Nelson, Dennis Quaid, and Val Kilmer.

1928 Lina Wertmuller born in Rome. She'll become the first woman ever nominated for a directing Oscar when she's 48 years old for the masterpiece Seven Beauties. 

1939 Oscar's first Best Actress, Janet Gaynor marries a costume designer so famous, he didn't even need a last name: Adrian. Many people believe it was a "lavender marriage"...

Click to read more ...

Beauty vs Beast: Crazy Comes Classified

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" for your consideration -- Jennifer Jason Leigh will be celebrating her 54th birthday this upcoming Friday February 5th, after finally earning a long overdue Oscar nomination this year with her joyously profane work as "Daisy Dahmer-goo" (sorry I can only type it like Kurt Russell says it) in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.

But Daisy's hardly my favorite villainous turn from the actress - she's always been willing to tap into the crazy, and that was a willingness that reaped righteously trashy rewards with 1992's psycho-roomate-thriller Single White Female, one of my favorites from the "psycho [fill in the blank] genre" that dominated in the early 90s. And meeting her all the way was a terrifically sweet and dazed Bridget Fonda (good god I miss Bridget Fonda), slinking around foolishly in that silver coat that haunts my dreams.

PREVIOUSLY Last week's actressy showdown didn't incolve Steven Weber getting a high heel to the forehead (much to Clouds of Sils Maria's detriment, obviously) but it did involve an incredibly close race from start to finish, and just ekeing it out in the end was (drumroll please) Kristen Stewart, with literally half of a percentage point lead over The Binoche! Talk about a photo finish. Said AndPeggy:

"This result is just testament to how great these two actresses are together. Their interplay and chemistry is what makes the film so memorable."

April Showers: "Single White Female"

waterworks each weeknight at 11 in April

Have you ever had a flatmate you just didn't trust? Bridget Fonda as "Allie" thought she'd found a good one in Jennifer Jason Leigh "Hedy" after placing an ad in Single White Female (1992). But once JJL moved in, things got so weird. Any of us could've told Bridget that'd happen since JJL is rarely "right" in the head onscreen, yknow? So Hedy gets weirdly needy and steals Allie's whole look, complete with ginger helmet bob! So Bridget, who is pretty damn stupid even as thriller heroines still has enough functioning brain cells to know a good snooping opportunity when she hears one.

I'm going to take a shower."

Now's your chance, Fonda. 3...2...1... SNOOP, BRIDGET, SNOOP!!!

Oh, don't pretend like you haven't snooped on a roommate before! The Film Experience is a safe space. You can say. Show of hands? I thought so. And, besides, all ethical bets are off once someone starts stealing your identity, right?

At first Allie seems like she understands the danger she's in as she does a little stealth jog to JJL's room where she discovers a box of personal things in the closet. All people, crazy or otherwise, keep shoeboxes filled with secrets in their closets. Known Fact. What she finds in this shoebox is those very secrets as well as proof that Hedy has been intercepting her boyfriend's mail. That Bitch!

Single White Female was shot by Italian cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. It's beautiful.

Oh and Allie, get the hell out of there. That bitch who steals your mail also takes really short showers.

More after the jump. NSFW

Click to read more ...