After a month of anniversaries when we discussed Scream 2, Hostel: Part II, All Cheerleaders Die and The Boy Next Door, last week Trace and I moved into birthday month with Hellraiser: Bloodline. Most recently though, we had to hit pause so that we could celebrate love and Valentine’s Day AND Women in Horror Month.
And what better way to do that than by revisiting Single White Female, the film that launched a thousand orange bowl cuts, with our friends Amy Kasio and Amy Ketchum over at Double A Horror Highway?
This is a film that pits Jennifer Jason Leigh‘s Heddy against her hot, perennially boy-obsessed roommate Ally (Bridget Fonda) in a plot to steal her look, her man (Steven Weber), her puppy and maybe even her life. It’s a classic of the stalker subgenre, although it is a touch lite on the drama, the conflict and the scares.
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Episode 60 – Single White Female (1992) feat. Double A Horror Highway
We’re kicking off Women in Horror Month with a confusing and frankly boring erotic thriller about a threatening lesbian roommate, written by a gay man, for straight male audiences. Joining us for the ride are the two Amys (Kasio and Ketchum) of Double A Horror Highway, who help to unpack the film’s mushroom cut hairstyles, portable computing devices and why neither Bridget Fonda or Jennifer Jason Leigh’s characters own any furniture.
Also up for discussion: un-sexy sex clubs, showing (but not using) the incinerator, whether Heddy is a true lesbian or mentally ill (or a mentally ill lesbian) and speculation about why the film tries to redeem every terrible character, including the rapist played by Stephen Tobolowsky!
So little of Single White Female makes sense that we struggled to retain even the most basic plot points. Toss this film out the window like a puppy!
Cross out Single White Female!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing Women in Horror Month by revisiting the most controversial film in the New French Extremity, Martyrs (2008).
– Joe & Trace
P.S. We’re dropping a new online article on 1971’s Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde this week. You can find all of the old articles here.
P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen an episode on Oz Perkins’ Gretel & Hansel as well as a forthcoming episode on Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island. Plus: a full-length audio commentary on Valentine (2001).
