Stephen Jackson

Both Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert got it right: a provocative and inventive feast of a thriller, this was - until a final reel of vindictive, contrived hysteria which matched Scorsese's remake of CAPE FEAR for ludicrous and frenzied hyperbole. What they were not to know was that, in the original plot of the film, Glenn Close's femme fatale committed suicide: which was both psychologically consistent and left Michael Douglas to face the murky morals of his own behaviour. But in Hollywood the demographically selected viewing panel reigns supreme. Here different finales were shown, and what you see here is what mighty Joe Public said he wanted. Three cheers, then, for the American buck male, who emerges once again as unscathed as our own conscience. FATAL ATTRACTION was not the first film to be wrecked in this this way, nor will it be the last. Maybe a Director's Cut is what we now need? Still, any film which introduced the term "bunny-boiler" to the English language, has to be worth a pop.