Femme Fatales (2011–2012) User Reviews

Revised Review: Femme (not so) FAIL tales

[FrankDamage · 5/10 · 25 August 2011]

*****UPDATED REVIEW******

I HAD ORIGINALLY rated this Cinemax "after hours" series a two. Based on a single lack luster episode (entitled "Help Me Rhonda" - I honestly could not envision myself, at the time, watching the series again after this)that I still maintain, failed to deliver on multiple levels.

However after recently viewing another earlier episode (ironically and by no planning of my own, CONNECTED to the previous episode I'd reviewed)I found it to be shockingly conflicting to the PREVIOUS episode I'd watched, as well as the subsequent review.

The episode "Behind Locked Doors" proved to well surpass my earlier designation of the "adult action" in this series as "feather core" and move well into the standard (albeit, still somewhat lack luster) "softcore" range and while the acting won't be winning any awards, it was far more palatable than the unfortunate assembly of actors had been apparently capable of delivering in the first episode I reviewed.

Overall the after hours fare in this respect lived up to and surpassed my most minimal expectations and the knowledge that it tied into a later episode (again, strangely enough the first one I'd previously suffered through) was an especially alluring and surprising bonus.

Being somewhat partial to a "presentably" made W.I.P. storyline (Jailbait 2014, anyone?) I felt compelled to give this series its day in court and revise my earlier rather scathing review.

Again, this is no award winner, but at least in the case of THIS episode, it delivered MORE than I expected and deserved a retrial and pardon.

Of note: I noticed the latest particular episode reviewed (premier ep.)was almost 43mins long where the later episodes are only in the neighborhood of 30mins. Comparably I'd say even an extra 12 mins could make a world of difference in both the storyline and plot. So let's just call this "probation," for now.

Not QT

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 3 August 2013]

Well mostly not "cute" that is. Maybe a little QT (the cover art of the Box Sets indicating that this is "Sin City meets Tarantino"), but not a lot either. What it is though, is erotic short stories, with strong female leads. You may not always like where they are leading to, but most of them are very satisfying nonetheless (in more than one way as you can imagine).

Not every short story does the trick, but even the weaker ones have something that is at least worthwhile. Some are more predictable than others and some have more sex than others. Some of them are even connected (characters popping up at different episodes making it a fun watch). Give the show a try. Curious to see if there is a third season with even more guest appearances (second season had Eric Roberts, Vivica A. Fox and others)

Maybe we need 20 years

[LuvSopr · 5/10 · 14 July 2012]

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.

cool show

[chadjohnson4555 · 15 January 2014]

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.

Femme Fatales - It's so bad that it's good

[jonathanruano · 7/10 · 6 November 2011]

I sometimes here the proverb that "this film is so bad that's good," and I never believed it. But then "Femme Fatales" assaulted my senses. "Femme Fatales" is such a hilariously stupid porno series that it's surprisingly good. Most of the dialogue was so incredibly ridiculous that it could not possibly be taken seriously and probably was not even meant to be. Yet at the same time, my reaction to the stupid lines was not boredom or disgust, but amusement, because the screen writers miraculously gave this idiotic dialogue an originality and a quirky black humour that I frankly have never seen before in any porno. The plot lines were preposterous, but they were so fast-paced, so difficult to predict (there is nothing worse than a movie or series that you can predict), so breathtakingly violent and savage and so unusual that I did not even care that much about the flaws. Finally the acting may not be the best in the world, but for a porno series it is pretty exceptional. I challenge anyone to prove that Hanna Harper, Bree Olson or Steven St. Croix can act better than cast for the Femme Fatales series.

Owing to the bold and breathtaking approach "Femme Fatales" takes to its own subject matter, I suspect that this series is going to be very controversial. Yet if you like porn and are open to something radically different, then you may want to give this series a try.

6.7/10

Femme Fatales, more lackluster late night from Cinemax...

[FizzenBarber · 1/10 · 13 May 2011]

FEMME FATALES: 01 "Behind Locked Doors" This is a really bad late night series.

The first sex scene does not begin until twenty minutes into the episode. Its a lesbian scene, and it only lasts one minute and ten seconds. The next sex scene happens some minutes later. Its a boy/girl scene and it lasts two minutes. Both sex scenes are shot and edited like an action scene from a Michael Bay movie. Nothing graphic happens. In fact, besides the nudity, they are just as tame as what you'd see on network television.

Tanit Phoenix acts as narrator/presenter, but you don't see much of her; she's shot from the chest up. There are actually more revealing shots of her in the opening credits.

Compare this late night series episode to another available onDemand right now: SIN CITY DIARIES: 08 "To the Extreme". "Behind Locked Doors"'s running time is forty-two minutes while "To the Extreme"'s running time is forty minutes, yet, "To the Extreme"'s first sex scene happens within four minutes and twenty seconds, and lasts for five minutes and fifteen seconds. There are three more sex scenes in this episode while "Behind Locked Doors" only has two.

It seems that all of the attention (and money) while making FEMME FATALES is going for sets and casting. The sex scenes and sexiness in general are after thoughts at best.

The actors in this episode seem almost embarrassed to be doing sex scenes. Indeed, even the cameraman, by the way the camera seems to move AWAY from the action whenever possible, seems embarrassed to be shooting sex scenes.

I suppose its just an extension of Cinemax's own apprehension to producing a real late night series.

at least they produced something

[mro-producer · 7/10 · 19 December 2017]

I'm fascinated by the disparate reviews .... mostly all 10s or 1s

This is not a great series as it suffers from poor writing and poor acting, but what do people think? everything is going to be Martin Scorsese? These guys did their best with a low budget.

The one thing I would say is that a femme fatale should lead a man to his demise, but too often in the stories, the femme fatale takes revenge on her man or the lead man. The women should be quietly and deceptively manipulative, and lead a man to his demise. He should not go there because he's an idiot or because he's arrogant or stupid.....

The writing could use a lot of work, but the series is different, unusual. The casting of ladies is awesome - and they should slow the credits down so you can figure out who the actresses were.

kill me now

[Tactrix · 1/10 · 2 July 2011]

When I saw the preview to this show it looked like it had real potential and promise, the idea was solid, the cast was good looking, it seemed pretty good on paper. After watching the first few episodes sadly I have to say this show is just bad. While the elements I've originally mentioned remain true they don't make up for the atrocious acting, seriously besides for the 2 or 3 people who've actually acted before and know how to make things seem fluid the entire cast just plain out sucks. Right from the beginning their visual ques don't line up with their bodies, the actual facial expressions are wrong, and even when they hit in the first episode its so pathetic that you can see their hands or weapons missing the person entirely, I seriously expected to see the word "WHAM" as one girl got hit at least in old school batman they knew how to act, which is more then I can say for this pathetic lot. Please next time you try to remake a show get people that know how to act AND look good, not the other way around. 1/10

Cool blend of pulpy fiction and "Cinemax" content...

[FiveFramesUp · 8/10 · 31 May 2011]

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.

this is truly awful

[fbabka · 1/10 · 28 August 2013]

After reading all the reviews on IMDb i decided to give this show a try. Let me ask you people, do you live your life in a cannabis haze? because after watching the first episode i am convinced that is the only possible way to enjoy this terrible waste of time show. The acting is pretty awful, the glazed eyes and dull recitation of lines could be very easily outdone by a group of drama students - no doubt there. The story is absolute trash, it insulted the intelligence of my pet baboon, he is too traumatised to watch TV this week after watching this excuse of a production. Within the first 10 minutes you will experience a wide array of situations so unbelievable that you will start wondering if you're watching a stoner movie or a high school amateur super slim budget flick . I mean it's in a prison and there are two prison guards? or was the budget so low? when prisoners fight - one slim female officer runs in to break up the fight - ONE! lol. and to add to the insult this officer is stopped from hitting a prisoner, guess by who? by the other prison officer. ridiculous i tells ya.

you might stop there, as I did, and take another look at IMDb - as I did and decide that the story will get better, boy was I wrong. It just gets worse after that. I don't often write reviews but I strongly believe I can save some unfortunate soul out there from wasting 1 hour of their lives. This show is a dud, apart from some lesbian scenes it really has no redeeming qualities. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE , you have been warned.

Favorite Summer Show On TV Right Now...At Least Until Burn Notice

[ZeferYX-66-615654 · 10/10 · 28 May 2011]

This might sound nuts to you, but with no Mad Men on TV this summer, my favorite television show right now is a little late night guilty pleasure called Femme Fatales. I know, I'm shocked too. But after seeing a few commercials on Cinemax after a movie I was watching, I thought I'd hit the record button on my DVR and check it out when I was really, really bored when my girlfriend wasn't around. Last night, I ended up starting the first one and watched all three ofthe first episodes and I didn't just like it, I loved it. There's a lot sex but the stories are so interesting and completely different from anything else on TV that I wondered if I was crazy so I actually sat down and showed a few minutes to my girlfriend and I ended up watching all three again with her who liked it as much as I did. The acting across the board was great. I really liked the lead in the premiere and in the second one, the guy I loved in Niptuck was in it and he was great. I almost spit out my soda when he started quoting lines from White Heat which is probably when I realized there was something a tad subversive about this show which I thought was just some late night stroke show and turned out to be something else entirely. So far, none of the three episodes I watched had anything to do with each other which kept me surprised since I didn't know what to expect. And in last night's episode there was girl that I thought was one of the most stunning women I ever saw on TV, the blonde who kills her husband. This is not the kind of show I would have expected to like or even watch but I will definitely be watching from now on and if you happen to be reading this and don't know if it is for you, I would say give it a chance because it's a pretty smart, hip, fairly subversive little show. Who knew?

Good looking girls but...

[biobadre · 1/10 · 8 January 2013]

...the rest is terrible. bad acting, bad story. There are just no surprises. Its like the actors make up the story as they play, just plain bad.

I have no idea how i should even fill the minimum review-text about this brainless series.

Like i said it has some nice visuals, and if they left out the predictable story completely i might have given it a better rating.

Just sad.

I like the genre. Crime, trash, sex... but this is a disappointment in every way.

Fooled by good reviews

[artie412 · 3/10 · 5 July 2014]

I too was taken in by a few of the great reviews for this series. As I read them, being a film noir fan, I was hoping for some updated James Cain, or Jim Thompson-type productions.

Wow, was I wrong.

If the plan of the producers was to get a small platoon of "reviewers" to lure folks in to watching this show, it worked in my case at least. It was boiler plate Late Night Ultra soft core drivel. Great looking, trashy dressed babes and stud muffin guys with lame dialog and cliché story lines.

Do not waste your time. Disappointment guaranteed.

Big Step Up

[flickdog-1 · 10/10 · 27 May 2011]

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.

Long Hot Summer

[lboylelvr · 10/10 · 11 May 2012]

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.

Just got the dvds as a gift and liked it

[kevsparks7 · 8/10 · 15 January 2014]

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.

Femme Fatales is great!

[mustangmaniac01 · 10/10 · 23 April 2012]

As someone who is a fan of actual TV shows and not another dime a dozen reality crap, this show definitely tops my list! Let's start with the fact that this show was definitely an original idea, and after one episode (which have nothing to do with each other), you'll be hooked. Each show keeps you in suspense as they are all unpredictable. You wonder what the clincher will be, only to find out you're wrong once again. The unfamiliarity of the cast members adds to the intrigue. The downsides: The show is on way late (like between 2-4 AM) and there's no room for it On Demand because it is jammed up with old soft-core shows no one watches anymore. What's up with that? Also, as good as the show is, Cinemax will never get the credit it deserves unfortunately. It will always be looked at as soft-core porn, and most people would never subscribe to it, therefore never seeing how creative their shows really are. I also love The Girl's Guide to Depravity! It's a riot!

Favorite Late night cable Show

[e-luminata · 10/10 · 27 September 2011]

I don't know what all the hub-bub is about with such extreme negative or positive views of this show, because unlike the paid hacks shilling for or railing against it, I watched and enjoyed most of the episodes.

I liked: Behind Locked Doors, Something Like Murder, Speed Date, Girls Gone Dead, Help Me Rhonda, Clinic and Visions I. Didn't like the other so much.

I see what they are trying to do with the whole sexy Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt sorta thingy and just like those series (which I love) not all of their episodes are great either. It would be great if they had more stars, but I imagine the amount of sex that is in the episodes probably makes that difficult.

I give them credit for trying to elevate the genre with slick photography, cool music and non-pornstar girls (if we compare apples to apples) than to be mired down in the pure sleaze of Coed Confidential, Busty Cops or worse, Chemistry.

Another Great Episode!

[faustodr · 10/10 · 27 May 2011]

Just checked out the new episode on demand. This show gets better every week and its always very different. It's really sexy but the acting is really good and the story took me by surprise. I have some friends coming over again tonight to watch it. I'd never seen the two stars in anything before but they were really good. The ending was unexpected too but I won't give it away in case you haven't seen it yet. I can't wait to see next weeks episodes. I don't know how I would descirbe this show because it's not like anything I've seen but I think that's part of why I like it so much. Does anyone know if any of the actors have a website? I was going to see Hangover 2 tonite but I am going to go tomorrow again so I can watch this with my buddies.

A New Fan!

[joncarterfrommars · 10/10 · 7 June 2012]

I just started tuning into Femme Fatales recently and caught up with a few episodes on Max Go and what I can't understand is why I haven't heard anything about this show before. It's great. Quite frankly, I would've thought I would have heard Quentin Tarantino talking about how fun it is, but he's probably off making Django because this is the kind of pulp fiction I don't see on TV anymore and to call it TV is almost an insult. Each week is it's own little movie; different stories, different actors. Last week, Antonio Sabato plays a bank robber who gets mixed up with a girl who has his number. I guess given it's called Femme Fatales, I should have seen the twist coming, but I didn't and I thought the entire script was really smart and the acting was excellent. I've read some of the other posts on the site and am a little mystified. This show seems to capture the spirit of 30's pulp novels perfectly; overheated passions, gun-play and sharp dialogue, reminding me of the old movies I used to see on cable before they were replaced by bad reality shows (in fact, Femme Fatales takes a stab at reality series early this season which was probably my least favorite episode as it lacked the kind of pulp feel that the other shows I've watched have). There is some sex and it's definitely titillating, but I don't find it superfluous. In this week's episode, a girl seduces another woman in front of a fish tank to get her to help her with a caper and it looked amazing. I think all that helps set it off from if it were on AMC or another cable station, but there's certainly no more sex than Game of Thrones or Californication. This show really surprised me and you can count both me and my wife as big fans of this series.