Femme Fatales

It's always nice to see more anthology shows on TV. Femme Fatales is probably the first erotica/crime anthology show since The Hitchhiker.

Femme Fatales shares The Hitchhiker's wildly uneven nature, as it luxuriates in gunplay, murder, and exploitation of women, all while trying to give lectures on violence and the exploitation of women (see the "Girls Gone Dead" slam with Charlie O'Connell pitch-perfect as the sleazy producer). The main difference between the two shows is the adrenaline jolts of humor and pure insanity which kept The Hitchhiker going. Femme Fatales usually takes itself very seriously, and often seems very flat, in everything from lighting to acting. It's half-baked noir. Worst of all is they continue to have a host who can barely read her lines and who was presumably hired solely for a British accent and for her large breasts. Imagine Alfred Hitchcock Presents hosted by the local sweater girl.

When you watch old Hitchhiker episodes, you can ogle the absurd fashions, hairstyles, pulsing synthesizers, and general paranoid cocaine blindness which makes up so much of 1980's TV. You get an extra kick from nostalgia. You don't get that with Femme Fatales. The show represents the directionless blandness of so much of today's pop culture.

5.9/10? What were those viewers thinking? I think most IMDB users don't use their brains when rating a movie/tv show. It was a good show: a show of pornography and storytelling. It served the purpose of sexually arousing viewers, with some good stories. I loved the episode with a haunted house and the episodes where women sought revenge on men who hurt them. Big kudos to those actresses too. Good acting. Sorry but I couldn't stand those bosoms with silicones. I love all things natural. Also I loved how some stories connected to each other. You will see some faces that show up in multiple different places in different episodes. Great erotic tv series.

Femme Fatales is a truly great anthology series and I'm not sure why it's not getting all the love it deserves. I've never seen an anthology show done quite this well before since The Twilight Zone...and that includes The Outer Limits, new and old. If you can imagine a sexy version of the Twilight Zone mashing up different genres with a sultry host and cool characters, then you have some idea of the show "Femme Fatales." There are great special appearances by cult stars such as, Agnus Scrimm & Paul Mazursky, to name some of my favorites. The other thing that deserves a shout-out is the cast. The acting is terrific and the "femme fatales" usually aren't only smoldering, but they're also really good actresses as well. Femme Fatales is way more edgy and entertaining than previous stabs at doing anthologies in the last few years, like Masters of Horror and Fear Itself, which I wanted to love, but kinda blew. For example, "Behind Locked Doors" is a woman in prison romp reminiscing 70's exploitation and grindhouse. "Something Like Murder" is an old school sexy noir. "Haunted" is a straight up horror episode in the realm of Paranormal State type shows. "Help Me Rhonda" is a home invasion thriller and a sort of prequel to "Behind Locked Doors" which I've never seen done in anthology before where episodes actually connect to each other even though they're different stories. "Speed Date" is a hilarious action comedy. "Girls Gone Dead" is a sex charged revenge episode. Seeing how they tackled all the different genres this season, I can't wait to see what they do with season 2. The one thing I've come to expect with "Femme Fatales," is expect the unexpected.

I was pleasantly shocked when I saw this show. I expected the usual late night fare, but instead both of the first two episodes of Femme Fatales featured fun, fast-paced stories, recognizable actors, really nice production values, and great entertainment value, along with a heavy dose of sex and nudity. Unlike a previous reviewer, I think adding more sex would just ruin the pacing and make this just another late night show. As it is, it's a big step up into the big leagues of real programming for Cinemax. If this is indicative of what's coming from Cinemax in the future, I'll start watching the channel regularly. For now, I'll definitely be watching more of Femme Fatales.

I've watched three episodes of this so far and have become a fan.

As someone who is tired of reality crap and the same stale, safe plot formulas playing out on network and cable (please kill me before I watch yet another cop/CSI show), "FF" takes a collection of familiar elements and tosses them in a pop culture mix master set to high. Yeah, it's corny at times, but it's also alternately funny, suspenseful, sexy, smart and scary — all depending on the episode.

There are a lot of "grindhouse" elements here but without the gore or general "torture porn" mood of that genre. And while "Skinamax" fans are offered plenty of eye candy, the female characters are never debased or pointlessly exploited, and generally have the upper hand in the end. Yes, the femme fatales are the stars of "FF."

The most recent episode, "Something Like Murder" offers the most traditional "film noir" style of the show so far. And while it depends heavily on familiar characters — the plot was pretty clever, and the cast game. Dialoge-wise, it reminded of what Pauline Kael said about the modern noir classic "Body Heat": "Sounds like the characters have been boning up on Chandler novels." But is that so wrong? Just a wink and a nod to the source material inspirations.

I'm not sure where "FF" is going, but I'll stay along for the ride.