Femme Fatales

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.

Finally caught up with this show after a few of my friends told me it was really good. Given it was a show on Cinemax, I didn't' really have any high expectations, but after downloading a few episodes from Amazon I was really surprised. The thing that caught my eye immediately was how good the show looked. Like classic crime thrillers from the 40s, it had a very unique style and some of the same kind of dialogue you expect in an old classic pulp film. Although the twist endings were usually surprising and cool, the thing that really grabbed me was the way characters moved in between episodes giving it the feel of a shared universe in a comic book. And there is even a comic book episode at the end of season 2 which was a ton of fun. For the most part, there are also some really strong performances and memorable femme fatales or femmes fatales, more accurately. There is a dark nihilistic quality to the show that I personally liked and it combines darkness and hmor in the way of a Breaking Bad does. I probably watched about 10 episodes so far and I liked them all, some I loved. The requisite women in prison episode is really a great homage to the 70s classics and the lead performances are all very engaging and the twist totally caught me by surprise. The second episode, Something Like Murder, feels like it came right out of the 1940s, if it weren't for some very sexy and beautifully photographed love scenes with an incredible twist at the end. But as soon as I thought I had this show pegged, it threw a change up with the antic Speed Date, a delightfully wacky screwball comedy with Girlfriends Reggie Hayes who's hysterical as a befuddled dating fraud. It's just a wonderful mash-up of some of my favorite movies. I also enjoyed The Clinic which featured Angus Scrimm, one of my favorite horror actors and The White Flower which had another great twist ending and one of the sexiest femme fatales in the entire series, Tina Casciani. I've only just started watching the second year of the show, other than skipping ahead to the comic book episode because I couldn't help myself. So far the episodes that have been even better and each one has had some of my favorite character actors like Chris Mulkey and Eric Roberts who are in two of the standouts so far. I also really liked Vivica Fox in the Femme Fatales goes to college episode and there's a strange sci-fi episode that feels like an old 70s TV series, the old evil twin chestnut, which got a neat spin, although it wasn't one of my favorites. All in all, I highly recommend the show and am looking forward to watching the rest and may even have to subscribe to Cinemax to watch the third season when it airs.

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.

Just got Femme Fatales Season 1 and 2 with a Christmas gift card for myself and loved them. I don't have Cinemax so I never saw any episodes on TV but I did see a panel at San Diego and thought the show looked really cool and the women talked about how empowering it was for female characters which is something I like to see. I was not disappointed. While there were one or two clunkers, most of the episodes were terrific and it only got better as it went on. I also thought the special features were really good. There's a very funny blooper real and some great deleted scenes and behind the scenes material. All in all, I really recommend this show and thought it was very smart and sexy and the DVD is just as good with a lot of extra stuff that helps give insight into the episodes. I especially enjoyed the commentary with the girls talking about the episodes they're in. What I think is great about this show is you don't know what to expect. Just like The Twilight Zone or Tales From The Crypt or even Tales from The Darkside, each episode is it's own story so it's different. One can be a mystery, a sci-fi, grindhouse and most have some of my favorite cult actors. Early 1st season was Robert Lasardo, the guy whose head gets cut off in Death Race. He's great as a gangbanger who takes a hostage at the local hospital. Also Charlie O'Connell plays a sleazy video promoter who gets his due in another one of my favorites from the first season. Second year is even more consistent in terms of quality but each feels very different. I can't recommend this show enough. It isn't a dark brooding study of the human condition, but rather a fun, pulp show that's well written, acted and is incredibly entertaining.