The Last Seduction (1994)

Directed by John Dahl. Starring Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman, J. T. Walsh, Bill Nunn, Brien Varady. [R]

An ingeniously devilish romp from neo-noir specialist Dahl casts Fiorentino in her strongest role (and performance) to date as an ice queen who uses her intense sexuality to manipulate everyone around her, often against their better instincts. She steals hundreds of thousands of dollars from her NYC husband (Pullman) and hides out in a small town near Buffalo, where she uses local schnook Berg for sex (but only after she aggressively inspects the size of his member at the bar where he tries to pick her up), and later as an accomplice in a murder plot. Suspenseful, ghoulishly funny, crisply-photographed, and filled with twists and turns that keep things interesting beyond just a showcase for the star’s delicious black widow routine—unfortunately for her, because it debuted on HBO before its theatrical release, she was declared ineligible for Oscar contention. Some may argue it goes too far at the end, but whether it does or not, at least it doesn’t chicken out in favor of the karmic settling of moral accounts. Written by Steve Barancik.

84/100