Femme Fatale: Cinema's Most Unforgettable Lethal Ladies

by Ursini, James

  After a period of depression and even an attempt at suicide, she finds the talking tongue has its advantages. She learns to pleasure herself with it (and in fact even impregnates herself). It is also a wicked defense mechanism. So through her acceptance of the change, she speeds up the transformation into a super-phallic femme fatale, much as Julie did in Return of the Living Dead III. Even her looks alter as she becomes more vampiric in appearance—tight vinyl skin which reveals the contours of her body, long black curly hair, and more severe makeup—and more violent in her actions. When she finds Johnny cheating on her with a former nun (Mapi Galan) on her own bed (which had been cast into the desert after an explosion), she attacks them without reservation. She does not succeed in killing Johnny, however, as the nun chops off her phallic tongue. But she does survive. In the final scene Candy, returned to her human state, awaits the birth of the child she conceived with herself.

  Melinda Clarke as the sympathetic dominatrix Lady Heather in the neo-noir TV series CSI.

  Clarke moved back into TV and in 1997 portrayed the Amazon Velasca on Xena: Warrior Princess. In the episodes “The Quest” and “A Necessary Evil,” Velasca battles Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor) for queenship of the Amazons. She is a hostile, rebellious soul who has seen the Amazons become, as she says, “a joke” old men tell. In one scene, she even destroys the temple of Artemis, the protector of the Amazons, to express her anger.

  In the first episode she is defeated and killed by Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle. But in the sequel, “A Necessary Evil,” she returns from the dead to claim the throne. After eating some ambrosia of the gods, she becomes immortal and is hell bent on destroying both Xena and Gabrielle. In 1997, Clarke played another the super-powered femme, assassin Jessica Priest in the film adaptation of Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn. Her characters in both Spawn and Xena were so popular that action figures of Jessica and Velasca were marketed worldwide.

  Clarke continued her penetration of television with the series Charmed. In an episode entitled “Siren Song” (2002), she played the title character, a siren who takes revenge for her own destruction by seducing men in front of their wives. She then kills them with a kiss and sets fire to the room. In 2003, she joined the cast of the nighttime soap opera The O.C. (Clarke was in fact born and raised in the setting for the series: Orange County, California). She played Julie Cooper, the money-hungry Orange County housewife with a wandering eye for young flesh.

  Among Clarke’s most remarkable achievements on the small screen has been her portrayal of the dominatrix Lady Heather in five episodes of CSI (2001-2008). The character was created by writer Jerry Stahl, known for his contributions to this neo-noir series as well as his cutting-edge and often erotic fiction. Grissom (William Petersen) meets Lady Heather (“Slaves of Las Vegas”) when he is investigating the death of one of her employees during a bondage session. The story treats Lady Heather and her lifestyle with great sensitivity. Clarke gives the character grace and heft. Lady Heather immediately senses in Grissom a man who, like many of her clients, is so tightly wound that he enjoys ceding control to her. In a refined tea ceremony, she probes his possible submission.

  In “Pirates of the Third Reich,” Grissom and Lady Heather, now friends, join forces to find the torturer and murderer of her estranged daughter. Lady Heather, however, is not satisfied with the pace of the investigation. Out of grief and a need for revenge, she sleeps with the man she believes is the guilty party and presents DNA evidence to Grissom. When it turns out to be the twin of the man, Lady Heather kidnaps him and takes him to the desert. In the middle of the night, Grissom finds her as she is whipping the guilty man to death. Grissom manages to stop the enraged woman before she kills.

  By the last episode with Grissom, “Leave Out All the Rest,” it has become obvious to the viewer that Grissom and Lady Heather have a deep relationship. As Grissom, weary and depressed, turns to her in the final scene for comfort and peace, the viewer is left to decide whether their relationship is purely platonic, or whether he has found sexual release at the hands of this dominatrix.

  Jodi Lyn O‘Keefe

  —Punk/Glam Femme Fatale

  Jodi Lyn O’Keefe is another in the cadre of young actresses who are continuing the tradition of the femme fatale. Her piercing steely eyes, statuesque figure, and forward manner make her a prime candidate for the role of a lethal lady.

  In Teacher’s Pet, a.k.a. Devil in the Flesh II (2000), O’Keefe contributes to a subset of the psycho-woman film (Play Misty for Me, Fatal Attraction, et cetera), the psycho-teenage-girl movie (Crush, Poison Ivy, et cetera) . As with the other films of this subgenre, male anxiety over the rise of feminism informs these films with their almost paranoid depiction of the female antagonist. However, in Teacher’s Pet, the filmmakers shift the focus away from the hunted male to the predator herself; and, in the process, they create a sympathetic three-dimensional character—who, in the tradition of post-feminist femmes fatales, actually escapes her pursuers at the end, and survives.

  Debbie Strong (interesting choice of surname), played by O’Keefe, is institutionalized after killing her abusive mother and grandmother. While there, she forms a sexual /romantic attachment to a doctor. When she become hysterical after he rejects her, she is strapped down and molested by a “dyke” nurse. Debbie, like a true superwoman, breaks her bonds, attacks her assailant and the perfidious doctor, and torches the hospital.

  A scorned Debbie (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) will not allow another lover to evade his responsibilities to her, from Teacher’s Pet.

  On the road Debbie hitches a ride with a coed Tracy (Sarah Lancaster) on her way to college. After the Tracy is accidentally killed while trying to run away from Debbie, Debbie gets rid of her body, assumes her identity, and heads off to college in her place. Debbie’s aggressive manner and proclivity for sexy outfits makes her stand out at college. Within a few hours she has picked out her newest crush, literary professor Deckner (Jsu Garcia), and attracted groups of jocks who flock around her like flies. When she first enters her dorm, the camera pans up from her high heels to her smirking face as she walks in slow motion down the hall followed by a line of college boys carrying her belongings. When another jock tries to flirt with her, she humiliates him verbally in front of Deckner, and later bites off part of his lip when he tries to kiss her.

  However, this hellion has, as we mentioned, her “soft” side. She mentors her shy roommate, Laney (Jeanette Brox), taking her side against the officious dorm mother. Later, when she is attacked by a drunk in a bar to which Debbie takes her, Debbie defends her, leading to yet another addition to the impressive body count of the movie. Even her sexual relationship with the professor—which includes seducing him away from his pregnant girlfriend, Carla (Katherine Kendall)—is presented with sympathy. Her interest in him is not just sexual, but intellectual. She shows him her writing, with which he is sincerely impressed.

  Glamour photo of Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, a threat in lingerie.

  So when Deckner lies to his girlfriend about their relationship, her rage and sense of betrayal (“I let you inside me!”) is understandable if not forgivable. She breaks into Deckner’s house and threatens both him and Carla. When the police arrive, she grabs one of their guns and shoots, wounding both of the officers. She then escapes and again manages to hitch a ride, this time, ironically, with the father of the girl she was pretending to be. Undoubtedly, further adventures are to follow, although to this date there has been no sequel with O’Keefe.

  In Red Rover (2003), O‘Keefe begins the film as the mentally unbalanced Kylie who, with her brother Will (William Baldwin), returns to their ancestral island home after the death of their father. Kylie is haunted by images of the death of her mother in a fire and by visitations or delusions from dark forces around the ancient site. Ultimately, Kylie turns to the dark side and embraces the witchcraft of her ancestors.

  The intimidating villain Gretchen Morgan (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) in the FOX-TV hit Prison Break.

 
Vampires: Out for Blood, a.k.a. Out for Blood (2004), allows O‘Keefe, as the vampire Layla, to emphasize her glam/punk side. Dressed in thigh high boots and mini vinyl dress, she leaves a club. When a stranger tries to molest her, she literally casts him aside. When stopped by a rogue cop who has been assigned to find her (she was reported as a missing person), she turns to confront him. With her natural height (O’Keefe is 5’ 10”) enhanced by high-heeled boots, she towers over the ostensible protagonist, Holten (Kevin Dillon). Flashing her mesmerizing eyes (literally, as she is a vampire), she leads him to a limo where she gives him “undead head,” as she refers to it. Layla then drags him around like a ragdoll as this normally recalcitrant cop becomes unusually docile under her spell.

  Layla and Holten, along with her fellow vampires, drive up to an abandoned hospital where a vampire orgy/rave is in progress. Layla mounts Holten; and, while having sex with him, she takes a bite out of his neck. He responds almost automatically by pulling out his gun and shooting her repeatedly. When he awakes the next day, the hospital is empty and his captain (Lance Henriksen) thinks he is insane, driven to that state by his divorce from his wife and his heavy drinking.

  Holten finds that he is “turning” when Layla reappears and gives him a rundown on the rules of becoming a vampire. With the help of his ex-wife, Susan (Vanessa Angel), a writer of vampire stories, they return to the lair of the vampires and destroy Layla as well as the “master.”

  Also in 2004, O‘Keefe starred as a Spider Demon in an episode of the long-running feminist Wicca show Charmed entitled “Spin City.” Looking more like Vampira than a spider, O’Keefe’s power, as the demon, is her ability to cocoon her enemies. And as a side benefit, after she imprisons them, she experiences orgasmic-like pleasure before she “dines” on them. That same year, she humiliated the womanizer Charlie (Charlie Sheen) in the sitcom Two and a Half Men (“Last Chance to See Those Tattoos!”). When Charlie tries to pick her up in a bar, O’Keefe as Gail delights in loudly reporting to her girlfriends that Charlie has been identified as a “date” to avoid on a website.

  In 2005, O’Keefe returned for a second shot at Charlie as the perverse tattooed sorceress Isabella (“Hi, Mr. Horned One”). She traps Charlie with her perverse sexuality while intimidating his family with her spells and tough talk. In the climax, she offers Charlie to her sisters in the coven. As they drug him and carry him into the ritual room, Charlie is ecstatic, unaware of the possible side effects.

  O’Keefe’s most influential role to date in television has been as Gretchen on the FOX show Prison Break (2007-2009). She is a ruthless assassin who acts as the antagonist for the brothers in the series, although she seems to change sides as the show evolves. Using, at times, the ironic pseudonym “Susan B. Anthony,” she is a hard case, a woman who has undergone torture, as is implied by her scars, and is adept at all forms of manipulation. When she captures Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies), a doctor and love interest of one of the brothers, she bullwhips her. In an attempt to lure a suspect, she poses for photos as a naughty schoolgirl. O’Keefe, like the line of femme fatale actresses before her, revels in the independence and power this role gives her, telling interviewers: “It’s nice. I’m bending the boys to my will.”

  Charlie’s nephew, Jake (Angus Jones), becomes a little too fascinated by the sorceress Isabella (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe), from the TV series Two and a Half Men.

  Filmography

  D=Director; C=Cast

  Affairs of Anatol (1921). D: Cecil B. DeMille. C: Bebe Daniels, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid.

  Alexander (2004). D: Oliver Stone. C: Angelina Jolie, Colin Farrell, Val Kilmer.

  Ally McBeal (TV Series). C: Lucy Liu, Calista Flockhart.

  Alraune (1928). D: Henrik Galeen. C: Brigitte Helm, Paul Wegener.

  Alraune (1930). D: Richard Oswald. C: Brigitte Helm, Albert Bassermann.

  America’s Sweethearts (2001). D: Joe Roth. C: Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Julia Roberts.

  Amok (1944). D: Antonio Momplet. C: Maria Félix, Julian Soler.

  Ask the Dust (2006). D: Robert Towne. C: Salma Hayek, Colin Farrell.

  Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). D: Nathan Juran. C: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers.

  B. Monkey (1998). D: Michael Radford. C: Asia Argento, Jared Harris.

  Baby Face (1933). D: Alfred Green. C: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook.

  Ball of Fire (1941). D: Howard Hawks. C: Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper.

  Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002). D: Wych Kaosayananda. C: Lucy Liu, Antonio Banderas.

  Bandidas (2006). D: Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg. C: Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz.

  The Barefoot Contessa (1954). D: Joe Mankiewicz. C: Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart, Edmond O’Brien.

  Basic Instinct (1992). D: Paul Verhoeven. C: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone.

  Basic Instinct 2 (2006). D: Michael Caton-Jones. C: Sharon Stone, David Morrissey.

  Bella Donna (1923). D: George Fitzmaurice. C: Pola Negri, Conrad Nagle.

  Belle Starr (1941). D: Irving Cummings. C: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Randolph Scott.

  Beowulf (2007). D: Robert Zemeckis. C: Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone.

  Betty Blue (1986). D: Jean-Jacques Beineix. C: Béatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade.

  Beverly Hills Copulator (1986). D: Stephen Cartier. C: Traci Lords.

  Beyond the Forest (1949). D: King Vidor. C: Bette Davis, Joseph Cotton, David Brian.

  Black Sunday, a.k.a. The Mask of the Demon (1960). D: Mario Bava. C: Barbara Steele, John Richardson.

  The Blackout (1997). D: Abel Ferrara. C: Béatrice Dalle, Matthew Modine, Dennis Hopper.

  Blade (1998). D: Stephen Norrington. C: Wesley Snipes, Traci Lords.

  Blonde Venus (1932). D: Josef von Sternberg. C: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant.

  Blood and Sand (1922). D: Fred Niblo, Dorothy Arzner. C: Rudolph Valentino, Nita Naldi.

  Blood and Sand (1941). D: Rouben Mamoulian. C: Rita Hayworth, Tyrone Power, Nazimova, Linda Darnell.

  Blood and Sand (1989). D: Javier Elorrieta. C: Sharon Stone, Chris Rydell.

  Blood Sabbath (1972). D: Brianne Murphy. C: Dyanne Thorne, Anthony Geary.

  Blue Angel (1930). D: Josef von Sternberg. C: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich.

  The Boarding Gate (2007). D: Olivier Assayas. C: Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, Kelly Lin.

  Boccaccio ’70 (1962)—“The Temptation Dr. Antonio.” D: Federico Fellini. C: Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo.

  Bordertown (1935). D: Archie Mayo. C: Bette Davis, Paul Muni.

  Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). D: Francis Ford Coppola. C: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Monica Bellucci, Gary Oldman.

  The Brat (1919). D: Herbert Blache. C: Nazimova, Charles Bryant.

  Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). D: Christophe Gans. C: Monica Bellucci, Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel.

  The Brothers Grimm (2005). D: Terry Gilliam. C: Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Monica Bellucci.

  Call Her Savage (1932). D: John Francis Dillon. C: Clara Bow, Gilbert Roland, Thelma Todd.

  Call Me Bwana (1963). D: Gordon Douglas. C: Bob Hope, Anita Ekberg.

  Camille (1917). D: J. Gordon Edwards. C: Theda Bara, Alan Roscoe.

  Camille (1921). D: Ray Smallwood. C: Nazimova, Rudolph Valentino.

  Camille (1936). D: George Cukor. C: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor.

  Carmen (1915). D: Raoul Walsh. C: Theda Bara, Einar Linden.

  Carmen, a.k.a. Gypsy Blood (1918). D: Ernst Lubitsch. C: Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke.

  Casino (1995). D: Martin Scorsese. C: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci.

  Cat in the Cage (1978). D:Tony Zarindast. C: Sybil Danning, Behrouz Vossoughi.

  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). D: Richard Brooks. C: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives.

  Catherine the Great (1995). D: Marvin Chomsky, John Goldsmith. C: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McGann.

  Catwoman (2004). D: Pitof. C: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone.
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br />   Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). C: Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz.

  Charmed (TV Series). C: Melinda Clarke, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Alyssa Milano.

  Chicago (2002). D: Rob Marshall. C: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lucy Liu, Richard Gere, Renée Zellweger.