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Is Deon Taylor the most prolific director of studio films currently working in Hollywood? In the space of two and a half years, he’s delivered four thrillers with notable casts and throwback-y premises. (He also appears to have a sequel to his atrocious
Purge spoof/knock-off
Meet The Blacks in the can, though the teaser trailer looks even more like a fan film than the original.) Taylor is so busy that
Fatale throws back twice: first to erotic thrillers like
Fatal Attraction, then further to the twisty noirs that inspired them. It’s not a very good noir, but compared to, say, Taylor’s
Like so many other movies during this weird year, “Fatale” has been kicking around the calendar because of COVID-19 movie theater closures. It was originally supposed to come out in mid-June and has had a few other scheduled dates before finally arriving “only in theaters!” this Friday, if that’s the kind of calculated risk you’re prepared to take.
But director Deon Taylor’s film feels much, much older than that with its cheap thrills and archaic approach to women characters. They’re all crazy, or adulterous, or murderous, or all of the above. That retrograde attitude might at least be vaguely tolerable if “Fatale” leaned harder into its inherent cheesiness. And yet, this modern-day take on the “Fatal Attraction” premise never fulfills its promise as a lurid, guilty pleasure. Despite its slick aesthetics, with gorgeous stars in luxurious clothes driving flashy cars and enjoying multimillion-dollar views from the beachfront to the hilltop, “Fatale” is weir